


Our Reality

by remycapsule



Category: Weeekly (Korea Band)
Genre: BasedOnAMovie, The Darkest Minds - Freeform, grammatical errors as well lmao, lots of pics ahead sjhdjs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 80,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25827067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remycapsule/pseuds/remycapsule
Summary: The world falls ruin in dystopia as a mysterious, deadly disease wreaks havoc, mainly targeting children and young adults. However, survivors gain bizarre superpowers. Through series of unfortunate events, the girls are individually segregated into different groups of colors: Green, Blue, and Gold. But the rarest ones are Reds and Oranges, declared as the most dangerous and lethal on the chart. What will happen to them? What would their color be? Though the real question is...what happens when one of them turned out to be Red or Orange?(Biggest thanks to my friends Alex, Lim, Ivy and Gail for helping me with editing!)
Relationships: Kim Jimin | Monday/Shin Jiyoon, Park Soeun/Lee Soojin
Comments: 28
Kudos: 63





	1. Eliminate

Everyday was the same old, boring as ever. Many students in class were either hiding their phones as their teacher gave lectures about mathematical equations that not even mathletes would find interesting, or just whispering amongst themselves. The only noticeable thing was the unusual number of students missing in the classroom. Maybe they just skipped school entirely? It seemed like Mr. Lee just gave up trying to get everyone’s attention, his facade of happiness cracking under the weight of exhaustion. Those bags under his eyes made it obvious. Soeun sighed for the nth time, practically standing at the door to the world of dreams. Now more than ever she was glad that she sat near the windows. She frowned, noticing the wind had picked up today. Shrugging, Soeun merely brushed it off, assuming the weather was being its normal annoying self. 

However, she heard some kids gossiping about rumors spreading about the missing students. There was constant speculation about where they could be and what happened to them. They even brought up news coverage regarding this, which Soeun rarely ever watched. But since they were just rumors, she just ignored them. Another ten minutes passed by, still ignoring Mr.Lee and staring out the window. By this point, Soeun had noticed several police cars zoom by, as if they were heading towards something serious. She raised an eyebrow seeing not two, but around five police cars. Oddly enough, their sirens didn’t yell for the world to hear them, thus Soeun didn’t think much about it. This though, would be one night where Soeun made an effort to watch the news for once. Her boredom reached such a fever peak that she wished he would carry on with his lecture, if there was nothing else to focus on tuning out. 

Soeun almost pitied him since it looked like he just needed to go home and take a nap. Honestly, the same could be said for everyone else in the classroom. She looked at the board full of scribbles and math formulas that no one gave a rat’s ass about. Funny enough, Mr.Lee still tried anyway. Understandable if he still wanted to keep his job. Soeun shifted her attention from the white board to the back of the man’s head, narrowing her eyes. But…something felt weird. She frowned when a voice suddenly echoed in her mind and spoke in full, coherent sentences. So much was transpiring in her mind and as quick as it came, she was then met with a strange mental silence.

_Huh?_

“Huh?” Everyone in the room stared in confusion at the teacher when he halted all movements, standing straight and emptily looked forward.

_What just happened?_

“What just happened?” Is he…repeating after her thoughts? Soeun stared in shock while the rest of her classmates looked at each other, not knowing what to do until one spoke. 

“M-Mr.Lee? Are you alright?” 

Soeun merely imagined he’d turn around, which is exactly what he did.

_No way…_

“No way….” Once again, the teacher repeated after her. This very much freaked Soeun out when she quickly shut her eyes closed, which broke Mr.Lee out of his trance. He stumbled a bit before looking around, just as confused as the class. 

“Mr.Lee?” Another kid asked. 

“Huh…sorry, I must've spaced out for a bit there.” Soeun had to get out of here, thus she quickly raised her hand. “Yes, Soeun?” 

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

Sighing, the teacher knew she wasn’t going to stay and waved her off while rolling his eyes. “Fine…just, go.”

Quickly getting up, Soeun speedily exited the class and headed towards the bathroom like she had said. It was cold inside and the smell of artificial cherry soap lingered, in a way the familiarity of it was calming and peaceful. But Soeun still felt weird, terrified, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. Then with a glance in the mirror, she still looked normal. To herself, at least. However, she couldn’t help but stare a bit longer…like her mind spoke for itself. Then, as if a stranger was looking back at her, Soeun’s eyes suddenly turned into a bright color. Before she could properly react, it left as quickly as it appeared. Soeun, still in the state of shock, frantically rubbed her eyes before using the sink. Any hope she had of a normal day was long gone, it was time to go. 

Her face was still slightly damp from washing it as she passed through the front gates and onto the sidewalk. Soeun distanced further, relieved to no longer have the school in her line of sight. She walked for around a mile or two, merely taking in the urban city. Almost as if to add on to the already bizarre day, there weren't many people roaming around. Soeun frowned while looking in all directions, seeing almost no one. Even many stores were closed, which were usually bustling with all kinds of customers. Still a bit wary about this, Soeun shrugged it off before turning a corner into an alleyway, where her friends who’d also skipped school were waiting for her.

“Hey! There she is!” Soeun heard Yeojin as the smaller girl pointed at her. She raised an eyebrow before greeting back. 

“Sup. Sorry I’m late.” 

“Actually you’re early. We just got here.” Lucy chuckled before putting her arm around Soeun as they both walked towards the others. 

“Wait. Where’s Chaerin and Bada?” 

Natty shrugged, looking as worried as they were. “Who knows? We’ve been texting them all day, but nothing.” 

“They haven’t even read any of my messages either.” Yeojin frowned as she scrolled through her phone. 

“Hm. Maybe they’re both just busy with some things.”

“What? They actually have lives now?” Lucy chuckled and teased, lightening their moods up a bit. 

“Let’s just chill here and see if they make it.” Soeun suggested and that’s exactly what they do.

All four friends discussed whatever topics came up in their minds, ranging from school issues to future jobs. Yeojin came in clutch and had a backpack filled with food and drinks, thus they kept themselves busy for the whole day. The alleyway they were in had a brick wall at the end and the girls used Lucy’s soccer ball to play a few rounds of handball. Soeun was the ace at this game while her friends hilariously struggled to even hit the ball. She couldn’t help but laugh at them. Before they knew it, hours melded together as morning blended into afternoon. They were playing their last round of handball, with Yeojin and Natty battling against each other. Soeun sat with Lucy behind the dumpster to avoid the ball, watching their friends' match go down. 

She gazed at them carefully, her eyes focusing on theirs. Before Soeun knew it, she kept her attention on Yeojin's, thinking it wouldn't be so bad to maybe…experiment a little. Within seconds, the younger girl stilled eyes staring blankly at the ground and her mouth slightly agape. Natty hit the soccer ball, which bounced off the wall and hit Yeojin in the head, who didn't react whatsoever. Lucy and Natty frowned, before checking to see if she's alright. Soeun didn't move from her spot out of shock.

"Uh…….Yeojin??" Natty waved her hand to get the younger girl's attention, to no avail. 

Lucy furrowed her eyes even more at the lack of response, placing her hand on Yeojin's shoulder. "Hey, are you ok?"

_This is insane……_

"This is insane……." 

"Huh???" Their two friends looked at each other, then back at Yeojin.

"Was there something in your food, Yeo?" Natty shook her by the shoulder.

Soeun did the same thing as before, shutting her eyes closed to break her friend out of the unintentional trance. Yeojin quickly snapped out of it, her eyes wide and blinking as she had no idea what just happened. Lucy and Natty filled her in, to which she argued back about not remembering anything. The two shook their heads as Soeun hesitantly got up, pretending like everything was normal. Yeojin was left confused, before dismissing it entirely and assumed she really did space out. Now they were resting, munching on the last bit of snacks and playing games on their phones. This day went by quicker than Soeun expected but she wasn’t complaining. Truth be told she was glad her friends brought some normalcy to this wacky day. Then, numerous police cars and SWAT trucks zoomed by. All four girls watched in shock at how many there were, instinctively hiding behind the dumpster.

“Woah…what the hell is going on?” Yeojin asked her friends, but none of them knew how to respond. 

“You guys!” Natty alerted them. “Take a look at this.” They gathered around to watch live reporting news on her phone.

_This mysterious, but deadly disease has been mainly targeting adolescent youths and young children alike. Over 90% of kids around the world are now deceased. However, the remaining survivors have been linked to numerous cases of reported “accidents,” such as sudden causes of fires, electrical power surges, and levitating vehicles. Doctors have no clue as to how this disease started or where it came from, but strict measures are being made. The military and police force are dispatched, by the President’s orders, to gather_ **_every single remaining child_ ** _they see._

“Holy shit….” Lucy whispered out of utter astonishment. “There’s no way this is happening right now.”

“All of those police cars…you think they’re after us?” The answer seemed pretty obvious as they were already aware of what might happen to them. And Soeun wasn’t going to stick around much longer to find out. 

“We need to get out of here.” 

Natty frowned and looked at Soeun. “And go where? They’ll find us the moment we leave this alleyway.” 

“You have a better idea?! I’m not gonna stay behind in a damn dumpster for the rest of my life.” 

“Better than wherever the hell they’re keeping everyone else!” Natty exclaimed.

“You’re wrong thinking we’re just gonna give up and turn ourselves in like that.” 

“And like I said, you wouldn’t have to since they’ll easily catch you.” Natty said.

“If any of you guys want to stay, then fine. But I’m going home.” 

Lucy quickly added on before they all moved out. “They probably caught Chaerin and Bada already.” 

“Or…they’re gone.”

“How can you say that??” Yeojin hit her shoulder, causing Soeun to hiss in pain. 

“Didn’t you hear?? ‘90% of kids around the world dead’? I don’t know about you, but that seems like a shit ton of people to me.” 

“But they could still be safe somewhere. Let’s just get out of here and try finding—”

“I SEE KIDS!! GET THEM!!!” A blaring command interrupted Lucy from speaking further, causing all of them to direct their attention towards it. And to their horror, an entire SWAT team was in front of them. Soeun quickly broke the suspenseful silence.

_“Run!!”_

Then all four of them took off sprinting, the police hot on their trail. They booked it for their lives, entering an empty, isolated neighborhood. And unfortunately, this was where they had to part ways. Soeun looked back when she heard Yeojin and Natty screaming, witnessing how they were tackled to the ground and apprehended. She wished there was something she could do to help them, but with three cops on her tail, Soeun had to keep going. Lucy was last seen dashing into a park with two or more chasing after her and Soeun could only wish her the best of luck. Now all she heard were commands ordering her to stop running. Like hell she would. Soeun wasn’t going to give up so easily before ending up back in the urban streets of the city. Heavily panting, the girl persisted on and continued sprinting to get away from the police, then rounded a corner into a tennis court. Soeun hopped over the net faster than one of her pursuers did, causing him to get tangled between some strings before toppling over, taking his partner down with him. 

However, that still left the third cop as he quickly chased after Soeun. She began running away once more, heading towards another area of the tennis area. But right as she made another swift turn, it was a complete dead end after ending up in a racquetball court. Soeun groaned, feeling a mix of shock and frustration, right before being pushed to the ground on her stomach as she was being detained.

“Let go of me, assholes!!”

She squirmed around to resist arrest, which only resulted with a punch to the face. Soeun immediately felt dizzy and her nose bleeding only made it worse. The officers yanked the girl up to her feet before escorting her towards their SWAT truck. Soeun limped the whole way, struggling to keep up until she was shoved into the back and sat where many other teenagers were captured. Soon, the vehicle ignited and moved. For almost the entire ride, Soeun’s nose continued dripping blood, staining her sweater with crimson. Thankfully, one of the kids wasn't handcuffed, for whatever reason, and offered to help her by offering a handkerchief. The girl suggested the cloth stay in for about twenty minutes before taking it out, which Soeun was grateful for. Turning to look at her, all she saw was abnormally bright green eyes.

“Woah!” Soeun flinched back, frowning in confusion. “What’s wrong with your…?”

“O-oh, it’s actually just—”

The truck came to a complete stop, causing everyone to jerk forward. They began murmuring amongst themselves, until the door swung open as all of them ducked away from the sudden blare of sunlight. One by one, the kids were pulled out of the truck and before them was an entire campground. Rounding them up in single file lines, soldiers led them away into corridors. There, Soeun saw everything: various kids wearing different colored suits, mostly green, while many others were either blue or yellow. She raised an eyebrow, wanting to ask what this was but didn’t dare to speak. It’s not like that possible without being told to keep quiet anyways. Moving on, Soeun was finally released from her handcuffs before being roughly dragged by her arm towards a door, its sign reading “examination room”. The soldier yanked the entrance open before shoving her in and locking it behind her. Right when Soeun was about to cuss him out, a voice interrupted.

“Greetings.” She whirled around, facing an elderly doctor's back. 

“U-uh…hey?”

“Please take a seat. Your examination won’t take long.”

“What examination? I’m not sick.” 

“I wouldn’t know for sure _until_ I’ve examined you. We just need to determine what kind of color you are.” The man wasn’t looking at Soeun as he was busy typing away on his monitor. 

“‘Color’? What is this? Fucking Hogwarts?” 

“Hm. Some attitude, I see. If you look here on the chart,” he pointed to one on the wall next to him, “greens are super intelligent and safe to approach, thus the least harmful one. Next is blue, simply telekinesis, might still want to be careful around them. Then golds, harnessing electrical powers and endure high levels of voltage with ease, so cautionary measures are more encouraged. After that is red, but this spot was debatable. Reds, in particular, have pyrokinetic abilities and are highly, _highly_ dangerous. And finally, the most lethal of them all, oranges. The power of mind control and telepathy.” 

As the doctor explained everything, Soeun unconsciously approached the chart closer, her eyes narrowing at it. Was that why that girl she saw earlier had green eyes? And…could it mean…? “So, what happens to reds and oranges?” 

“I think I’ve told you enough already, young lady. You don’t have to worry too much about it though. Greens, blues and golds are the most common, so you’ll most likely be one of them. Now, have a seat, sit back and relax.”

She sighed before doing so. “Alright….” 

He carefully entered some information into the computer and finally noticed her. “What happened to your nose?”

“Got socked in the face by those pigs.”

“Oh….” Unsure of what else to comment. “That must've been painful.” 

“Mhm.” 

“Um, anyways. Tell me about yourself.”

“Uh…like what?” 

“How do you do in school?” The doctor questioned, still not looking at her as he aimed the brain scanner so it’s directly above her head. Soeun had a bad feeling about this. 

“It’s boring.” 

“Hm. Anything else?” Her examination was activated. 

“Nope.”

“Well then, let’s see.” And with a simple click of a button…

  
  


Park Soeun: **Orange** **_(Eliminate)_ **

  
  


Without a word, the doctor stood back in shock. He had been expecting to meet one like Soeun, but with the amount of green, blue and gold encounters, he doubted he'd ever see an orange. Until now. “Alright, um…just stay where you are and we’ll be over this quickly.”

She raised an eyebrow and was about to ask what her color was, only to see him grabbing a syringe. Then it became obvious what was coming. Right before the doctor could poison her, Soeun instinctively grabbed his other wrist and instantly switched places. The doctor couldn’t react fast enough and groaned upon being slammed on the chair. She tightly gripped his wrist, easily getting into the old man’s mind. He then suddenly stilled, staring blankly at Soeun who glared menacingly back at him. This sad excuse of a doctor didn’t deserve to have any mercy from her as she eyed the syringe. Without any hesitation, he motioned it closer to his shoulder before injecting it into himself. Soeun stood back, releasing her grip and watched the doctor’s eyes screamed a silent death as he slumped on the chair, no movement whatsoever. Her gaze reflected back, having no regrets. 

Sighing, Soeun looked to her side to see the monitor, its screen still presenting her result. Afterwards, she quickly changed the information and put herself as green instead. Soeun then walked to the door, opening it to see two heavily armed guards keeping watch. They were about to ask her questions regarding the doctor, but she beat them to it and grabbed their wrists, smirking evilly.

“Get rid of that scumbag’s body and burn it to ashes. Then _destroy_ any evidence of this. Understand?” 

The two soldiers robotically answered back. “Yes…we understand.”

And they did exactly as told. Secretly carrying the doctor’s corpse away from the examination room and into an incinerator area, immediately extinguishing his body. After that, the two soldiers easily deleted all CCTV footage without any trouble, thankfully. Soeun walked down the corridor when she finished giving her command, while having much to think about. When her results were transferred, she was given the green suit like the other kids she’d seen while entering this shit hole. It was afternoon when the military had everyone rounded up and walking with their colored groups. Constant unnecessary shouting and demanding towards young, vulnerable kids as they all quickly lined up towards their designated workplace. For the next few months, Soeun concealed her real identity with the green suit, making sure no one questioned anything. Although, a part of her felt that she could’ve handled her situation better in the examination room. But mostly…it just felt too damn _good_ to be this powerful.


	2. Sisters

An old 80’s radio played an excerpt of soft, peaceful violin music early in the morning, which served as the family’s wakeup call. Although that didn’t always work for the kids still snoring in their shared room. It was understandable since this was yet another school day for them. The kitchen was busy with the mother cooking breakfast while her husband read through the newspaper. As per usual, a cup of coffee at his side, almost like a loyal companion. Once the eggs were sizzling, the woman reached over to grab some plates. Soon, the dining table was set and ready as she placed two other dishes across. She chuckled at how cute it looked, but it hadn’t yet reached perfection. Standing by the stairs, the woman hollered their names.

“Soojin! Hyewon! Come down and eat!”

That was enough to wake them up. They did as told, freshening up before rushing downstairs. Hyewon, better known by her friends as Zoa, was ecstatic to see breakfast, topped off with strawberry milk waiting for her. She hugged her mother tightly with gratitude, there was no better way to start off her mornings. Soojin greeted both her parents before digging in. The family chatted amongst themselves, sharing what they were looking forward to while also planning for a potential vacation in the future. They playfully argued back and forth about perfect places to visit, such as, Paris, Bangkok, Rome, LA, the list goes on. Zoa had suggested Tokyo instead since she and Soojin had been wanting to go there for the longest time. However, her mother wanted some peaceful, relaxing area, such as Guam perhaps.

“Aw come on, mom. There’s so much to buy in Tokyo!” Soojin suggested, to which the woman rolled her eyes. 

“Tokyo is so urban though. And it’s loud here enough already, it is probably even _noisier_ there.” 

“You wouldn’t know if you haven’t visited Tokyo, mom.” Zoa slyly takes a sip of her strawberry milk, causing everyone to laugh. 

“She does have a point, honey.” 

The younger child continued adding on, “And there are places where you could get some peace and quiet too.” 

“Very well, we’ll have to plan everything as always. That being said, I’d definitely want to visit the spa area.”

Soojin and Zoa look at each other, turning back at their parents in shock. “You mean it?? We’re actually going?!” The older girl practically shouted. 

Chuckling, they both nodded. “We’ll take time to consider it.” 

Then the kids held each other’s shoulders, squealing ecstatically. “We’re finally visiting Tokyo, Zoa!”

“I know, I know!” 

“‘Zoa’? You’re still using that nickname, Hyewonnie?” Their mother amusedly asked. 

“Yeah. We’re not sure how it happened, but everyone seems to like it.” Soojin smiled and replied, petting Zoa’s head.

The family kept themselves occupied for the rest of their morning together. It’d been a routine since Soojin was born and Zoa was adopted. Initially their parents weren’t sure if the girls would get along with each other since Soojin was so shy. But like a miracle, they became inseparable. Having Zoa in her life shattered the shy bubble surrounding Soojin, which most likely played a hand in her becoming president of the student council. On the other hand, Zoa’s level of intelligence was almost frightening. People considered her a prodigy, excelling in all of her subjects and even skipping three grades. However, with Zoa’s accomplishments far exceeded expectations, there came jealousy amongst her peers. And thus, bullying was inevitable and her new name was "Alien Brain." Soojin was thankfully there to protect her every step of the way. Their parents took extreme measures to stop the kids from hurting Zoa, a vital key in how they remained a loving family. While the girls continued debating about the best type of donut, their father frowned after reading something in the newspaper. Soojin noticed this when passing him some bell pepper.

“What’s wrong, dad?” 

“I don’t know…but, this headline,” he spread the article out for everyone to see, “‘Mysterious disease still raging and going strong: _kids_ are at higher risk of infection.’” 

“Oh my.” Their mother gasped. “That must be why I saw a lot of ambulances and police cars around the city lately.”

“Not sure either.” Soojin said.

Zoa spoke up. “Does that mean we still have to go to school? They might be closed for today with this news.” 

“Yeah, maybe we can go back once they get this under control.” Soojin suggested as her father folded up the newspaper, shaking his head. 

“You were able to go yesterday, so you can still go today.” 

“Honey…I’m still not sure about this.” His wife tried to reason with him, but even that was ignored

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you two will be fine. And if anything happens, the school will definitely handle it.” 

“And if they can’t?” Zoa raised an eyebrow. 

“Well why wouldn’t they?”

“Because—”

An alarm from his phone interrupted her. “Oh, that’s my time to go to work. I’ll see you all back home soon, alright?” 

“Yeah….” Soojin’s voice trailed off as he quickly left the house. “Well, I guess we should get going, too. See you, mom.”

“Thanks for the breakfast!” Zoa placed a kiss on her mother’s cheek before hurrying away with Soojin.

The sisters walked together hand in hand, playfully swinging it back and forth while looking around their neighborhood. The neighbor’s kids grew up with them and they would all go to school in one group everyday, playing all kinds of childhood games like tag and hide-n-seek. However, things started changing a little, until it got more noticeable. They didn't see their friends as often these days. Or well…anyone else around for that matter. Soojin was hoping to at least see Heejin, Hyunjin and Ryujin today, which sadly didn’t happen. She and Zoa tried messaging them these past few weeks but nothing. Even direct messaging or calls didn’t work. The sisters looked back in their group chat together with their friends, sorrowfully scrolling through delivered texts.

They weren't sure if it was alright for them to stay concerned since they didn't want to bother their friends too much. But more than a week had already passed by. Honestly, what could they even do at this point? As soon as they reached Hyunjin's house, the two stopped and looked. Maybe, this time boundaries should be crossed. Just as Zoa was about to open the gate, Soojin immediately grabbed her hand.

“What are you doing??”

“Ring the bell?”

“You can’t go in there. They might think you’re trespassing.” 

“What else can I do? If Hyunjin unnie hasn’t been looking at any of our text messages, then she won’t answer the door.” 

“But—”

“Come on, unnie. Let’s just go check. And if she doesn’t answer after five minutes, we can leave.” 

“Then we’ll be late for school.”

“I’m pretty sure the teachers wouldn’t mind if we’re late for one day, unnie.” 

Soojin hesitated for another moment before reluctantly agreeing. “Ugh, fine. Then let’s hurry.”

Zoa was satisfied with the response as they opened their friend’s gate. Right then and there, all expectations of even reaching her doorsteps flew out the window. The sign read: “property condemned: **no trespassing**.” The sisters were rightfully taken aback by this, even more questions flooding their minds. Why did this happen and when? Was Hyunjin ok? And the others? But as Soojin and Zoa observed in the front yard, that alone pretty much spoke for itself. Hyunjin’s car was still in the driveway, along with her parent’s. Her yellow bike that the group pitched in for when she turned eighteen, the basketball she always had with her, their garden clearly left unattended, etc. But scariest of all was the abandoned house. Their heart broke when they cautiously etched close enough to see inside. It was dark, hollow…lifeless. Like all of the memories the group spent in Hyunjin’s room will forever be memories. Soojin bent down to grab her basketball, gazing down at it.

“T-they’re fine, right?” 

“They have to be fine. There’s just no way they would disappear like this…and not even contact us back.” Zoa slumped and her expression fell. Who was she kidding? Something was definitely going on and the media wasn’t telling them anything. But then she should also ask herself. Does the media know as well? 

The older girl hugged Hyunjin’s basketball close as if it was her, before sighing. “Let’s get out of here. Don’t want to get in trouble for ‘trespassing.’”

They continued to school from there, all while constantly checking their phones in case any messages popped up. Soon enough they arrived at school, hoping to see a bunch of kids and some teachers roaming around in the field. But unfortunately, there was no one in sight. Zoa checked the time and figured maybe they were late to class. Even then, there would still be a decent crowd here. The sisters hastily entered and noticed how vacant hallways were, some lockers were left opened and unlocked, and there wasn’t the daily, bustling sound of kids talking amongst each other they’d grown used to. Almost like there was no school today. Soojin and Zoa never expected it to be as empty as this. If the news was that bad then why haven't any schools closed down yet? They both agreed to attend classes for the day and see how that goes.

When Zoa entered her room, she was shocked when half of the kids were gone. Before being able to ask about anything, Mr.Lee stopped her. “You finally made it, Hyewon. Please go to your seat.” Wait, not even a scolding for being late?

Shrugging, she hastily sat down in the first row at center as he continued his algebra lesson, which went on for a while. Inevitably, Zoa grew bored like everyone else. She knew practically everything about algebra so this was basically a waste of time. Though on the other hand, Zoa heard some classmates whispering about something. She perked up a little upon hearing one say “rumors.” This weirdly interested her as she wasn’t one to listen to others gossip. Maybe it was because there wasn’t anything else to do in class. Soon enough, half an hour went by quicker than acknowledged as Zoa was busy trying to figure out what was going on. Numerous news articles regarding this “mysterious and deadly disease” were _everywhere_. Even after minutes of scrolling, it was the only thing outlets were posting. Zoa made sure to jot down anything seemingly out of the ordinary, occasionally narrowing her eyes when looking over her notes again. She was quickly five pages in, each paper filled with long paragraphs, drawings, color coding, and more. Empty school? Condemned homes? Properties left abandoned?

_Quarantine._

Zoa immediately perked up. But then again, she was still confused as to why adults weren’t seen around as much either. Suddenly, Zoa was interrupted when Mr.Lee spoke up. “Huh?” Raising an eyebrow, she looked around to see who he was talking to, but everyone was just as confused as she was. Then he muttered again to no one in particular. “What just happened?”

_Ok, this is weird._

“M-Mr.Lee? Are you alright?” Zoa hesitantly asked as he slowly turned around.

“No way….” Everyone sat still, having no idea what else to say to him. Shortly afterwards, he staggered forwards slightly, quickly catching himself blinking. “Huh…sorry, I must’ve spaced out for a bit there.” Right when the man was about to resume teaching, someone stopped him. “Yes, Soeun?” Zoa turned around to look.

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

“Fine…just go.”

He dismissed the girl as she frantically left, leaving everyone confused and a bit worried, but they didn’t delve too much into thought. With that being said, Zoa went back to note taking on her notebook while scrolling through the internet. During the next ten minutes or so, she would go between watching news coverage and messaging Soojin. Out of the many videos Zoa skimmed, one kept getting crazier after the previous, and it just went on. She witnessed objects levitating in the air, CCTV footage of buildings abruptly bursting into flames, an entire neighborhood’s lights shorting out in the middle of a night, and many more similar occurrences around the world. There was so much going on at once that Zoa needed a quick break to breathe. After refreshing the site once, doctors finally named this disease: _Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration._ Or for short, IAAN.

She immediately wrote it down before looking over her notes, trying to figure out where her friends could possibly be and what would happen if she and Soojin got infected. Zoa thought up many different scenarios and possibilities, such as what their parents would do, where they’d be taken, all that quarantine stuff. The deeper these cases play out, the more Zoa realized. Maybe whatever this disease was most likely linked to these extremely bizarre events. And she had to tell Soojin now.

This was her cue to leave, thus she raised her hand to get Mr.Lee’s attention at his desk, which he quickly excused her as well. After bowing and thanking him, Zoa left and sped walked down the hall. But little did she know, Mr.Lee had witnessed her eyes brightly turn green while she was formulating her conclusion about this whole mess. He was terrified of this and waited till he could hear or see Zoa anymore, then walked out of the classroom, telling the rest that he needed to make an important call. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Mr.Lee made sure no one was around to eavesdrop before dialing a certain phone number. It was picked up immediately and a guttural voice sounded.

_“What do you want?”_

“U-uh, o-one of my students, she’s a-a Green.” 

_“Name?”_

“Lee Hyewon.”

_“Where is she?”_

“Currently h-heading to the bathroom.”

_“Hm. We’re on our way. Keep a close watch.”_

* * *

As the school council’s president, Soojin had the privilege to sometimes roam about in the building and head into the office where the other council members usually hung out. At this point, Soojin didn’t expect to see anyone as she entered the room. And unsurprisingly, she was right. The girl sighed, sitting at her seat and took in the silence. This felt almost too foreign to her, the feeling of slight loneliness only growing. She held the basketball close, softly smiling when she saw all of their names signed on it, while Hyunjin had hers largely printed. Soojin remembered all of the times they would play multiple rounds of basketball, despite her and Heejin being the worst at sports. It was crazy how things changed so much within a span of about four weeks. And before all of this, Soojin had last seen them when they all left school. She nearly shed a tear but stopped herself before one could escape. Feeling nostalgic, Soojin left for the gym. 

Most of their fun memories during PE were there. Whenever it was time to play basketball, they always immediately hopped onto that chance. On one occasion, Soojin got hit in the face after saving Zoa from an oncoming ball. Despite the pain, it had all of them cracking up on the floor. The girl decided to spend some alone, constantly trying to make a hoop and get better at the game…just in case her friends ever come back. But after a few attempts, Soojin grew frustrated. All she wanted was just one perfect shot. Then with a rough toss, the ball stopped and levitated in the air. Soojin gasped loudly when seeing this, covering her mouth as she watched it bounce back down on the ground.

“What…what was…?” The girl asked no one while glancing in all directions to see what caused this. With utmost caution, Soojin slowly approached the ball while holding her hand out. It levitated towards her immediately after that, which startled the poor girl as she retracted. Soojin tried again and the same thing repeated. “Am I…doing that?” After moving it around more, things became clear. “I have t-telekinesis…holy shit!”

Excitedly, Soojin grabbed the basketball before taking a shot, making it score into the hoop for the first time ever. Even though that was technically cheating, but, who cares? The girls would freak the hell out when they see her newfound power. She cheered and was happily jumping until her phone buzzed with a message from Zoa. Reading it, Soojin immediately knew her sister was being serious. After determining their meeting place, she shoved the basketball in her backpack and ran out of the gym. Within minutes, Soojin arrived and while walking in, she failed to see another person leaving and accidentally bumped into them, causing both to stagger back a little.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, are you alright?” Out of her protective nature and instinct, she placed both hands on their shoulder, immediately recognizing it was Soeun. 

“I-I’m fine, I’m fine, um…excuse me.” The taller girl bowed slightly and walked away without another word, leaving Soojin worried still. Sighing, she entered the bathroom shortly after, searching around to find Zoa before whispering out her name. That was when the largest stall opened and she was hushed inside as Zoa closed the door behind her. 

“Hey, so what’d you find out?” 

“I wrote everything down in my notebook.” She handed it to Soojin. “Here, I got most of the information from news articles and videos.”

Soojin was astonished, flipping through lots of content. “You did all of this within an hour??” Honestly, Zoa never failed to make her more prouder by the day. “This is amazing!”

The younger girl merely smiled and shrugged at the compliment. “It’s just quick work.”

After some brief explanations and skimming, the sisters came to an understanding of what was going on. This “disease” somehow granted kids incredible abilities far beyond that of normal people, which is why survivors were labeled extremely dangerous. They both watched more news coverage on these cases, seeing the police force, SWAT team and military working together. In scenarios like this, the government was definitely enforcing quarantine to separate survivors from society completely. But as of now, the media didn’t address this part whatsoever, so no one knows where these kids were being isolated. In conclusion, since Soojin and Zoa were still alive meant both of them likely had powers from this disease. And they weren’t going to stick around to find out where they were going to be taken.

“So, my guess is that Heejin, Hyunjin and Ryujin unnie have all been quarantined somewhere this whole time.” 

Soojin was about to add on when she saw Zoa’s eyes. “Oh my god…y-your….”

She frowned in confusion before checking herself on the camera app. “My eyes! They’re green!” 

They both laughed. “Yeah it sure is. That must be your power!”

“I have superpowers??” 

“I think so? Maybe it’s super intelligence since you’re really smart!”

Zoa gasped as it did make sense after all. “You might have a point.” She giggled at the realization. Wait a minute. “Unnie…was that what you wanted to tell me earlier? About your power?” 

“Y-yeah, um…telekinesis. I was in the gym earlier and moved Hyunjin’s basketball without physically touching it.” Soojin looked down at her hands, unsure of whether or not she could fully control this new ability. 

“Holy crap! That’s so cool! You have to show me.”

“Not now. We need to leave. We have to find mom and dad and get the hell out of here.” 

“I agree wholeheartedly.” Zoa nodded along as Soojin quickly held her hand and opened the stall door. 

Before they knew it, an entire squad of female soldiers stood right in front of them. “Where do you think you’re going, girls?” Both sisters gasped and backed up slightly. “Did you say ‘telekinesis’ just now?”

“I—”

“And what about you, young lady?” The cop looked at Zoa. “You’re a green, huh?” 

“W-wha—I don’t—”

“Please. Just let us go. We only want to go home.”

“Oh, there’s no need to worry about that.” The captain smirked. “You girls have a new home now.” 

“What do you mean?” Zoa nervously asked while hiding behind the older girl. 

“Just comply and you’ll be safe. Don’t even bother resisting.” 

They approached the sisters closer and were about to drag them away, Soojin did the unexpected. 

_“No!”_

All of the cops flew back by her telekinetic force being released from her hands. She held them out, causing all of them to fly into the walls and get injured. Soojin and Zoa stood frozen, utterly shocked at what had just happened. Immediately afterwards, the younger girl gripped her sister’s shoulders, excitedly shaking her. When they looked at each other, she gasped when Soojin’s eyes glowed with a blue color. However, their little celebration was interrupted after one of the soldiers blasted ultrasonic ringing with a large gun, instantly immobilizing Soojin as she dropped to the ground on her stomach, groaning. Zoa, on the other hand, fell to her knees covering both ears while screaming for the soldier to stop hurting Soojin. Thankfully, the captain ordered so and she backed off, although Soojin still couldn’t move and panted as the ringing still lingered in her mind. Before Zoa could even make sure her sister was ok, both were picked up from the ground before being dragged outside. 

Soon, they sat inside a trunk filled with other kids, who looked just as terrified. Soojin was handcuffed while Zoa kept the older girl’s backpack close as the vehicle ignited and moved. Their only light source was through a small window from the driver’s seat. Soojin could see them taking certain turns before ending up in the city. It stopped when she saw a larger crowd of police cars and SWAT trucks at front. Everyone froze when a soldier yelled:

“I SEE KIDS!! GET THEM!!”

“Run!!” Soojin raised an eyebrow, recognizing that voice.

Before anyone could properly react, the truck abruptly sped off when the driver slammed its pedal, seemingly chasing after something. Or someone. Soojin and Zoa gathered themselves to get up and look through the little window. To their horror, police officers were chasing after a group of girls, two being captured while the other duo kept running away. Soojin narrowed her eyes and was even more surprised when she saw Soeun running into a tennis court, until the truck suddenly stopped again. Within a few minutes of this chase, the doors opened, revealing the girl herself in handcuffs. She was pushed to the back where Soojin and Zoa were, their frowning expressions evident upon seeing her bloody nose. Then, they were on the road once more. After a while, the sisters whispered to each other.

“Hey, Zoa.”

“Yeah?” 

“Can you get the handkerchief from my backpack? I feel like Soeun could use it.” 

“Oh, ok.” Soon, she sat in front of the girl and tapped her shoulder, whispering. “Hey, that looks pretty bad and it’s still leaking. Do you mind if I check it?” 

“Sure….” Soeun seemed shy by the offer, but nonetheless didn’t question Zoa, instead letting the younger girl wipe some blood away before wrapping the cloth up and plugging her nose. 

“Alright, that should do it. You just need to leave it in for like twenty minutes and you’re good to go!” 

Afterwards, she was about to say thank you until she saw her green eyes. “Woah! What’s wrong with your…?”

“O-oh, it’s actually just—”

She was interrupted when the driver slammed on the brakes, instantly jerking everyone forward. Soon, they all exited the truck as Soojin and Zoa gasped, realizing they were at some large campground. No questions were asked while being lined into a building full of other kids that had been captured. The sisters saw most wearing green, blue and yellow suits, some of them were up against the fences just staring mindlessly. They seemed pitiful seeing more batches of captured kids being taken away from their lives and forcibly jailed here. Soojin and Zoa had to be separated for a bit as they had to wait for assigned rooms. After a few hours of patience dimming, the sisters reunited again for lunch and almost chuckled at each other when they saw their prison suits.

"Hey."

"Hey…." Zoa didn't even have the energy to look up at her sister as the older girl sighed.

"Let’s go sit, yeah?” Soojin softly squeezed her hand before leading them towards a table. Once seated, Zoa looked like she was on the verge of crying which prompted for a much needed hug. “We’re gonna be ok.” She petted Zoa’s head, something Soojin always did whenever the girl felt down. But this was entirely different; worse.

“I don’t want to be here….” 

Soojin solemnly agreed, slightly nodding. “Me neither.”

“I wonder what mom and dad are doing right now. We were supposed to leave school in 3 hours.”

“They’ll definitely do something. Mom and dad wouldn’t just let the military take us away from them like that….” She whispered. 

“I hope so.”

“Yeah. We shouldn’t stay in this place for long.” At least there was some reassurance they could depend on. The sisters remained in a warm embrace for a few more seconds, until Zoa lightened the mood up a little. 

“Blue actually looks good on you.” She chuckled. 

“Thanks...I don’t like it though.”

“Yeah…you know, green seems pretty popular around here.” Soojin smiled at the light joke. 

“How was your room?” 

“It was fine. I got a bed, closet, bathroom, all that jazz.” 

“I see. I’m just glad they allowed me to keep my backpack. Maybe someday they’ll let us play basketball.”

“I guess. We’re mostly doing work though.” 

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad, right? The food might be good, so…wanna go get lunch?” 

“Sure.”

As they both lined up with their tray and utensils ready, Soojin may have spoken a little too soon. When she got her bowl full of…weird looking gruel, she nearly gagged before quickly moving on with her tray. No way in hell were they eating whatever Satan's spawn this was. But thank god there were various kinds of fruit juices available, at least _some_ bits of humanity from this hell hole. The two decided on apple juice before sitting at an empty table. Soojin tried a small taste of the gruel just to test it, which was a horrible idea. She downed all of the apple juice immediately after to get rid of the taste. With that being said, the sisters merely resorted to beverages for lunch instead. While they continued talking about whatever was on their mind, a few soldiers roamed around, not even bothering to be subtle on eavesdropping others' conversations. That meant if kids even mentioned anything about escaping this place, they’d most likely be punished or killed. While in the middle of their discussion, Zoa felt someone tap her shoulder, instantly feeling her heart drop thinking it’s a soldier. And by the miracles, it wasn’t.

“Monday! You’re here, too??” She quickly noticed the older girl’s eyes. “Woah, hey are you alright?” Monday shook her head.

“A lot happened…last week.”

“Please sit down.” Soojin gently held her arm. Once they were comfortable, she questioned. “What happened?

“It was just……really bad.” 

“Hey, don’t worry, we’re here.” 

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”

Monday took a deep breath. “I want to get this off my chest.” 

“Of course. We’ll listen.”

“Alright so…long story short.”

* * *

“I’m home!” Monday called after a long walk back from school, taking off her sneakers and hanging up her backpack before appearing in the kitchen after her mother called back. She was currently making dinner and its delicious aroma of miso soup and eggs spread throughout. 

“Welcome home, Jiminie. Your dad is outside in the backyard fixing our fuse box. Something’s up with it again apparently.”

“Dang, really? That’s four times this week already.”

“Yeah. Honestly, things have been crazier especially with the news going around.” 

Monday had grown nervous about constantly hearing about peers and even younger kids dying because the disease was spreading rapidly. She quickly cleared her throat. “I know. But I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“How was school today?” 

“Same as usual, sort of? But there weren’t many people attending today.” 

“Hm, that’s really weird. Did your teacher tell your class anything about it?”

“Actually, she wasn’t even here today. We just had a sub.”

“I see.” Her mother frowned slightly. “Well, let’s get ready for dinner. Tell your dad I’m almost done.”

“Alright.” Monday entered her back yard and saw her father visibly struggling as he narrowed his eyes at the fuse box. She laughed while he kept pulling some wires with tweezers. “Dad, you’re gonna need more than just that tiny tool.”

He playfully rolled his eyes back. “I know. I went to the store for new batteries, but they’re all sold out.”

“Are you sure it just needs fuel? Our electricity is still running fine.”

“Yeah, for now.”

“Maybe you can call in a mechanic.” 

“I’ll think about it. I’d rather not spend money to fix something that I already know how to fix.”

Monday smiled back, doubting her father’s skill. _“Right._ Also mom’s almost done making dinner and she wanted us to get ready.”

“Nice. I’ve been out for two hours now. I definitely need some fuel myself.”

They both chuckled as he walked in first. She was about to follow him but her eyes locked onto the fuse box and wondered how to fix it. And well, curiosity killed the cat. Monday checked the kitchen, seeing her parents were too busy in the middle of their own conversation to notice. Therefore, she walked away when they weren’t looking. Then, out of nowhere, Monday’s hands felt weird, like a stingy feeling and vibrating. The closer she approached, it got more prevalent. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at her hands, utterly confused on what was going on. Monday picked up a wrench from the toolbox and instantly, electrical statics spawned. She gasped while instinctively dropping it. 

What was that just now? And where did that even come from? But the real question is, how did Monday not feel anything? Surely that contained thousands of volts enough to start a car. She picked up the wrench once more and gazed at the electricity traveling through it. Monday soon understood this was her doing after all and smiled excitedly. She had superpowers! However, the last thing the girl expected was for some static to spurt out and shock the fuse box. It exploded, causing Monday to duck away as a chain reaction occurred. At a speed of light, her entire neighborhood’s light shut down. Frightened, she quickly got up and ran for the door, but it was locked.

“Hey! Let me in!” Monday desperately pounded on the glass entrance. “Mom? Dad??” It was pitch black inside and nothing could be seen. But she heard their muffled voices full of terror. 

“Y-y-yes…she’s right o-outside…please come quickly.”

_Dad…?_

“W-we saw it, she’s—she’s a monster!” They were talking about her. 

_What? Mom?! No…_

  
  
They…feared _her._ She was just talking to them minutes ago like a daughter. The child they were supposed to love, no matter what. And all of that just disappeared immediately after this. But why? Monday didn’t do anything wrong, she didn’t hurt them in any way. But now wasn’t the time to stay and dwell on this sudden betrayal. She quickly ran out of the backyard, not wanting to look back. Whoever Monday’s so-called parents reported to were now hunting her down. Soon, there was a whole SWAT truck honking to stop as she continued sprinting from pursuing soldiers. They eventually caught Monday before the girl could make another sharp turn. Naturally, she resisted arrest and accidentally shocked one of them, which resulted in a harsh blast of the ultrasonic sound. Monday was quickly handcuffed and shoved into the truck. Then it drove away, never looking back.

* * *

“And that’s the end of it.” Soojin and Zoa almost cried hearing their friend’s story. The older girl held her hand. 

“God, I’m so sorry you went through that. You never deserved it.”

“What your parents did was—”

“They’re not my parents anymore. And I know what you’re about to say. Thanks though.”

“Hey, if you ever need to talk, we’ll be here for you, ok?” Soojin gripped Monday’s hand a little tighter, her protective instincts visible. 

“Yeah…yeah. Thank you.” 

“Of course.” Zoa patted her shoulder before giving a side hug. 

“You know….” Monday trailed off as the sisters looked at her, anticipating. “I don’t think I can ever trust adults anymore, like, parental figures.” They felt their hearts crack at that, but it was completely understandable. 

“I get that. I mean…I still trust mine.” The oldest girl rubbed her neck out nervously.

“Yeah same, although, your case really brought a new perspective for me.”

Monday nodded softly, realizing her friends’ point of view. “I hope you guys will be safe.”

“As you, too, Jimin-ah.” Soojin smiled and rubbed her shoulder to offer some comfort. She then looked down and noticed something, then frowned. “Why are you wearing rubber gloves?” 

“Oh my god, wait. You’re a gold? That’s so cool!” Zoa gasped. 

The girl herself chuckled and looked at her yellow suit. “Thanks. I see you guys are blue and green.”

“Gold is electrical powers, right?” 

“Mhm. I have to wear these because whatever I touch will get zapped with thousands of volts.” 

“Oh, wow. Dangerously cool.” They giggled at Zoa’s statement. “Let’s meet up tomorrow at lunch again? They’re gonna call us in soon and we have to do work.”

Both Monday and Soojin groaned at the reminder. “I have to help the troops load ammunition and move heavy crates into their storage.” She looked around to see if any of the soldiers were nearby before whispering. “So weak they can’t even do it themselves.” The other two smiled at the very much deserved insult. 

“They’re making us green people do some engineering and we’re forced to build machine guns for them.”

“I’m tasked with powering up this engine they’re experimenting with for whatever reason.” Monday rolled her eyes. “You know, typical military recruiting science to advance their little army. I have a feeling they’re a bit insecure while we’re doing their dirty work for them.”

“And with sticks up their asses, they love boasting about how powerful they are.” 

“Seems about ‘white’.” 

  
  
Soojin’s joke had Zoa nearly spitting out her apple juice and Monday trying to keep herself together. The small commotion had a soldier demanding them to be quiet, which they had to comply for their safety. For the last half hour of lunch, Monday gave some tips to the sisters and showed them a map she hid in her pocket, which Zoa decided to keep for the time being. Eventually, it was time for everyone to go back to work again. The girls wish each other good luck before heading off for more hours of labor. Sooner than expected, night falls and all the kids were instructed to head to their rooms. The rules at this time were simple: don’t stay up past your bedtime, don’t let anyone in your room, and absolutely, _no sneaking out._ Monday tried her best to sleep as much as possible while the sisters kept the hope that mother and father would get them out of here. However, patience dimmed over the next few months. Now a part of them wondered……could they still trust their own parents?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The abbreviation for IAAN is directly from the movie and books, I did not make it up if anyone's wondering. Anyways, thanks for reading this second chapter! Part three is in the works :D
> 
> You guys can follow me on Twitter @kumahye!


	3. Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter as the fourth one is currently in the works and coming soon uwu this will be a bit darker than the last chapters so: 
> 
> TW// threats to k*lling and guns!

School had just ended when a group of friends sprinted down the streets, laughing amongst themselves during a round of racing. Rules were that the first person would get anything they wanted, and last place had to make it happen. After some heavy footsteps echoing in their empty neighborhood and some tripping along the way, they all crashed into a wall, bringing the game to a close. They all groaned and whined at how unfair it was, but rules were rules. That being said, ranks had already been determined with Jihan being first and Jaehee last. The rest were just glad they didn’t have to spend any money. Since the reward budget was quite limited, Jihan could only wish for something under ten dollars. Jaehee didn’t mind much since her best friend was never too harsh with this kind of punishment. Until now, that is.

“I want…that new large pine of mint chocolate ice cream we saw the other day!” Everyone was certainly unsurprised, except Jaehee.

“What—that’s all my wallet has! Ten dollars.”

Jihan, with a mischievous glint, giggled. “I know.”

“Traitor….”

IIf it makes you feel better, we can share it.”

“Hm…ok, deal.”

“YAY!”

“Alright, love birds.” Yujin teased them before making a suggestion. “So, tomorrow is Saturday. I say we go hang out at the arcade. I heard they bought cool new games.”

“Oh! Is it the new Taddle Quest one? We really need to try that.” Ruann looked at May thinking she was crazy. 

“No, we _don’t.”_

“Aw, come on! It’s not that scary. Besides, you haven’t even tried it yet.”

“I don’t need to play in order to know that. The box art was more than enough.” The two argued as Yujin rolled her eyes. 

“Let’s save this for when we get there please? And I was talking about the new version of Pump It Up that came out two days ago.”

Jihan gasped excitedly and held Jaehee’s hand. “Oh my god! I’ve been waiting for so long!” 

“I’m surprised you still like it even after you dislocated your ankle.” This made everyone laugh. 

“Hey! I just tripped.” 

“That’s because you didn’t tie your shoe...even after we told you about it.” Ruann said. That was a memory they’d never let Jihan live down. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever. I still managed to get the highest score anyways.” 

Yujin chuckled before teasing. “Y'all are crackheads, seriously.”

“Speaking of tomorrow, has Wonyoung messaged any of you guys back?” May asked, concern starting to mask their faces. 

“For me, no.” Jihan shook her head as she checked her phone.

“I’ve been spamming her with texts all day and nothing.” Jaehee pouted, knowing full well her friend wouldn’t just go M.I.A so suddenly. 

“Yeah, I know. It’s been an entire week now….” The tallest girl trailed off and sighed. “Maybe she’s just really busy right now?”

“I guess, but she’d always tell us.” Ruann did make a good point. This wasn’t like Wonyoung. “We can tell her about tomorrow and see if she comes?”

They all nodded along as Jaehee replied. “I think that’s a good idea, she does love playing games after all.”

“Alright, then it’s settled. We’ll meet there at around 10am. How does that sound?”

They agreed with Yujin cheerfully before going their separate ways. May, Yujin, and Ruann all walked away individually while Jihan and Jaehee stuck together since their houses were side by side. They’d known each other since what felt like the beginning of time. Thankfully enough, their parents were quite close as well, so you could almost argue it was destiny. All it took was one play date when the girls were just babies, crawling around and looking curiously at the other. Jihan was naturally playful and feisty, which resulted in her throwing a piece of block at Jaehee’s face. Oh the crazy times they had. Aside from that, their bond only grew stronger and stronger as years went by at a speed of light. Jihan and Jaehee were thankful they could always rely on each other. Upon reaching the older girl’s house, Jihan’s mother warmly welcomed them home.

“Hey you two! How was school?”

“Same as always.”

“Let me guess. Boring?” She teased.

The girls giggled. “You know the drill, mom.”

“Do you kids want any pudding? I got some from the grocery yesterday. Your dad’s favorite.”

“You’re only asking us because he begged you to buy a ton, huh.” 

_“Four packs._ Ugh, and someone has to help him finish that because he can’t eat them all by himself.” 

Jihan smiled before opening her fridge. Wow, her mother did not exaggerate. An entire side was completely filled with them. The girl stared in awe momentarily before grabbing a few for herself and Jaehee. “Three each?” She smiled nervously while trying to hold six. 

“Sure!” 

“Cool! Hey mom, can Jaehee and I go to the arcade tomorrow? We’ll be with Yujin, Ruann and May.”

“Of course, do you need me or dad to take you two?”

“I already messaged my mom on the way here. Thanks for the offer though.” Jaehee politely declined.

“We’re gonna be upstairs if you need anything.”

“Alright, honey!” She called while checking the kitchen cabinets.

In Jihan’s bedroom, their activities consisted of: 60% playing video games, 20% going on social media, 10% eating pudding, 9.5% doing nothing and just sleeping, and 0.5% doing homework. They laughed and screamed together while playing some horror games, as well as watching others going through it. Jihan and Jaehee also enlisted Ruann and May to play with them. Yujin had messaged saying she wasn’t feeling well, which they understood and wished her to get better. The four teamed up for a battle royale that lasted way too many rounds to finally get first place, thanks to Ruann getting that last shot before the opponent could eliminate Jaehee. Then after this was a video call about help with crappy school assignments and mostly just planning.

“Since the arcade is in the mall, we can stop by the ice cream place.” The oldest girl suggested as May rolled her eyes. 

“You mean ‘Mr.Matcha’? All they serve there is green tea and _matcha.”_

“Hello? They have a limited edition this month. It’s a cherry blossom flavor.”

Jihan was immediately intrigued. “I’ve never tried any flower based ice cream before.”

“You guys can order that. I’ll just get the green tea one.”

“Basic as ever.” Ruann teased May.

“At least I’m not weird.”

_“Hey!”_

Jihan and Jaehee laughed at their friends’ funny dispute before deciding to call it a day. They prepared for a sleepover by building an entire blanket fortress on Jihan’s floor. During that process, however, a fun pillow fight erupted with laughter and maybe some slight concussions. The girls stayed up all night just whispering to each other and browsing social media, occasionally messaging their friends who also decided to stay up past their bedtime. While they were having a conversation about one thing, it changed when May shared a clip of the news showing a sudden power outage from a neighborhood near them. Jihan and Jaehee narrowed their eyes upon witnessing electrical waves spurting out from one of the houses and then everything went dark. They looked at each other, questioning but then shrugged, believing it might’ve been some accident. After a while, the girls were just about to fall asleep when Jaehee spoke up.

“Is it just me or was there a girl in the video?”

“A girl?” 

“Yeah, right before the outage. I thought I saw someone standing near some fuse box.”

“It’s probably just the bad quality.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” 

Jihan chuckled, closing her eyes. “Good night.”

“Night.”

* * *

Ruann was first to stroll up on the sidewalk while messaging her friends. Looking up, she noticed how weirdly empty the mall was, especially one that’s always packed with people. There were some adults roaming around and yet, rarely any kids. She was going to send their group chat a tweet about IAAN, but was too tired and slept first. Curious, Ruann searched some videos about it, only to be completely shocked. Articles and articles constantly documented these bizarre incidences. Practically every social media covered this, almost like a sick trend. Ruann didn’t know how spaced out she was when May placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, are you ok? I called your name like three times.”

“Sorry, I’m just—have you seen the news lately?” 

“About the disease, right?”

“Yeah…it’s really deadly, too.” 

“I heard some kids in school yesterday talking about it being linked to the missing people and stuff. Shit has really gone downhill lately.”

“Clearly.” They both looked inside the mall, feeling nervous at how empty it looked. Shortly afterwards, Jihan and Jaehee finally arrive. 

“Hey guys! I see we’re not late since Yujinnie isn’t here yet.”

“Actually I’ve been texting her since I got here ten minutes ago.” Ruann said as May agreed. 

“Me, too. I messaged her before I left my house.”

“Oh….” Jihan looked at Jaehee. “Us as well. She hasn’t responded to anything.”

“Ugh really?? She did not just pull a Wonyoung.”

“Yujin was fine yesterday….” May frowned while reading the last text from Yujin to her. _I’ll try and arrive earlier than 10. Goodnight._ “You think she’s ok?”

“Let’s wait out here for her. She’s probably caught up with something and might be running a little late.”

Jaehee suggested, which they all quickly agreed and sat down on the sidewalk. The girls kept themselves busy talking about whatever topics came up in their mind. But then a couple minutes passed by, which stretched to a full hour. Ruann was the first to get back up and suggest they wait while playing some arcade games. At first Jihan was against that and thought they’d be playing without Yujin, though it would be a waste of time and planning if they didn’t play any games at all. The girls cashed in for some tokens before exploring everywhere to try out as many arcade consoles as possible. They would either team up for shooting games before battling on Street Fighters or Tekkin. There were rage quits at one point because they thought it’d be fun to attempt an arcade version of Flappy Bird, multiple times. Before the girls realized, it was already close to late afternoon as they were busy with accomplishing levels on Dead Escape. Many tries and jumpscares in, they could only make it halfway through then called it quits. 

The group finally went on their own to play other games while Jihan and Jaehee competed with pinball machines, with the older girl currently leading the score. Everyone once in a while, either of them would get a point or two ahead, though what made it for fun was how they always tried to distract each other. For example, Jihan not-so-subtly bumped her hips against Jaehee, causing her pinball pass through the flipper bats. In retaliation for that, she tickled Jihan’s side, thus they both lost in the end. This continued for half an hour until the games abruptly ceased function, its lights powering down and the music tuning down. Jihan and Jaehee looked at each other, then over their shoulders, noticing that other arcade consoles were still working just fine, even spotting Ruann and May doing their own thing.

“Did this thing run out of batteries or something??” Jihan scanned her pinball machine to see what was wrong while Jaehee kneeled down.

“Most likely. It looks old anyway.”

While Jihan continued pressing some buttons, Jaehee’s eyes trailed the console’s wires to an outlet. Curious, she got closer, only for her hands to feel a tingling sensation. It was so sudden, she flinched back out of shock. Jaehee froze and looked around to see what happened, though couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Glancing back at the outlet, she reached out once more. In that moment, lines of electricity extended from her hand, striking some plugs as varying voltages traveled through wires. It all happened so fast, no one saw it coming. Soon, the whole arcade practically turned into a thunderstorm, bolts striking down at consoles, causing all of them to either spiral uncontrollably or short out of power. Ruann screamed and ducked down on the ground, her arms protectively over her head as she curled up into a ball. May was in the middle of playing a racing game and was very close to getting the highest score, until a popup unexpectedly alerted a malfunction. Her priceless expression reflected in the black screen.

“……………ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” She shouted, not even noticing the chaos around her.

Meanwhile, Jihan and Jaehee held each other in the corner while screeching for their lives, hoping for this to end soon. And thankfully, it did. The arcade was now dark with no light whatsoever. Ruann hesitantly got up from the floor, still looking absolutely shocked as May reamined absolutely confused. Jihan helped Jaehee to her feet and they cautiously approached out of their hiding spot. Everyone regrouped, relieved to see one another. They were initially planning to ask the cashier what happened, but he was already gone, probably scurried off to hide as well. Afterwards, the girls pulled out their phones for some light.

“You guys saw that?” Ruann asked, slightly panting due to fear. 

“Yeah…it was crazy.” Jihan replied back, but Jaehee didn’t know what to say. 

“Saw what?? What did I miss?”

“What—you didn’t see parts of the ceiling collapsing and the consoles getting electricuted??”

“No. I was too preoccupied.”

“That’s why the whole place is out of power now. Too much fuel, I guess.” 

“I, um….” Jaehee hesitantly spoke up as all of their attention was now on her. “I think that was because of me.” The girls were rightfully confused. 

“What do you mean?”

“I-I don’t know, I was checking to see why the pinball machines stopped working and then…my hands felt really weird.”

“Weird, how?” Ruann raised an eyebrow, not having a clue what the girl was hinting at. 

“I’m not sure how to explain. It just happened out of nowhere….” She embraced herself while Jihan hugged her friend, hoping to comfort Jaehee. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it. As long as none of us are hurt, it’s fine.” 

“Yeah.” Ruann agreed, placing her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.” 

“By the way, do you guys want to go visit Yujin and see if she’s ok? I just realized she hasn’t arrived here this whole time.” Jihan suggested and they all perked up as May continued. 

“Wow. I guess I was so into my games, I didn’t even notice.” 

“Let’s go right now then, it’s only 6PM.”

“Sure.”

Everyone agreed with Ruann before leaving and didn’t look back as they walked further away. Little did the group know, they were reported by the frightened cashier who peeked slightly over the counter he’d been hiding behind. On the way to Yujin’s house, the girls decided to plan for another trip tomorrow, as it was still the weekend. Ruann had suggested they go shopping, while May wanted to go to a Korean barbeque restaurant again. This inevitably turned into yet another debate between them as Jihan and Jaehee laughed along, only deciding to go wherever they eventually agreed in their little dispute. After a while, with another corner turn, they soon reached Yujin’s street, only it was blocked off with SWAT trucks and tons of police cars. Nervous, the group hid behind other parked vehicles away from this crowd. Whatever was going right now had to be extremely serious for this many authorities present in one neighborhood.

“We have to find Yujinnie.” Jihan whispered her suggestion, but there had to be a plan first as May insinuated.

“How? There’s gotta be about dozens of cops here.” 

“I-I don’t know. Maybe the backdoor?” 

Ruann already had a plan before they even spoke. “Come on, follow me. I have a plan.”

“Wh—are you sure?? We can’t just go in there.” The taller girl tried to reason, which didn’t work. 

“Yujin is our friend. We’re not losing her, too.”

With that being said, everyone stealthily booked it towards the back and reached Yujin’s fence. They gave May a boost up to see over it, perks of her being the tallest. Once the coast was clear, Ruann signalled for them to get inside the lawn, before racing to hide away from pointing flashlights behind large objects. Immediately after it was dark again, she carefully and slid open the screen door as quietly as possible. They head upstairs right after entering the house, towards Yujin’s room. But when the girls looked inside, she was nowhere to be seen. Jihan peeked out the window, wary of the cops watching. And before her eyes, she witnessed Yujin getting dragged into one of the SWAT trucks before it drove away, her parents nowhere to be seen.

Frightened, Jihan informed everyone else right after. “Guys, we have to get out of here. They’re taking her somewhere.” 

“What?! What do you mean? Did you see her?” Ruann was about to take a look at the window as well, but the younger girl stopped her.

“No! Look, it’s not safe, we need to leave _right now.”_

Low and behold, Jihan was right. The girls heard cops picking up sounds of them talking and were heading upstairs at the moment. But luckily, Ruann was fast enough to lead them all into the master bedroom where they could jump out of the window. Jaehee frantically locked the door while May placed a chair under the knob, thus preventing any entry. The oldest girl pried open a window facing the backyard, thus insinuating for them to jump. Before her friends could call her insane, she’d already fearlessly leaped out. Everyone rushed forward to see if she was alright, only to witness Ruann safely landing. And call them crazy, but they swore she almost levitated on the way down. There wasn’t any time to question it so Ruann told them to hurry.

“Just jump down, I’ll help you!” 

“A-are you—”

 _“Yes,_ I’m sure May!”

“If my legs break like pretzels, it’s your fault!”

“That’s basically saying they’re weak as shit, now _hurry!”_ May shut her eyes tightly and screamed her lungs out before taking the leap of fate. And just like Ruann promised, she was now safe on the ground. May’s eyes grew wide in surprise and amazement at once, giggling the whole way down. 

“Holy crap! I was flying! Did you see that??”

“No, idiot. I brought you down.” 

When the younger girl looked at her, she gasped immediately. “Woah…why are your eyes blue?” 

“Tell you later, now get out of here!” Nodding, May sprinted off back to her house, not looking back while silently hoping her friends made it out alive.

After that were both Jihan and Jaehee who jumped out of the window together. Right after Ruann helped them land safely, they, too, booked for it, scrambling out of the area and far away from the crowd of police officers. Just as they sprinted, the SWAT team had finally busted down the door and were too late to reach the window that the girls escaped from. Thankfully, they barely saw them leaving, thus gave up searching shortly. On the other hand, the group dashed as if their lives depended on it. For all they knew, it did. Ruann hastily bid her friends goodbye before taking a separate path, leaving just Jihan and Jaehee as they held hands. The younger girl took the lead ahead and directed towards their houses. After quickly saying goodnight to each other, Jaehee burst through her front door, startling her parents a little while they were on the couch watching TV.

“You’re in a hurry.” Her father teased amusedly. “I see it’s a bit early, too. We were just about to get up for dinner.”

“O-oh, yeah, uh….” She hesitated on what to say, but eventually came up with an excuse. “Jihan and I were racing again.” 

“How was your time at the arcade?”

“It was fun, actually.” And crazy.

At night time, the family helped cook dinner together, each of them having their own tasks to assist one another. Jaehee had fun with her parents, constantly making jokes so funny they nearly left some beef and onions burning on the pan. She was thankful this calmed her down after that whole escape an hour ago. Fearing her parents will act irrationally if Jaehee told them about today, she decided to keep quiet for the whole night, being very careful with touching certain items. Jaehee let her parents handle cooking with the stove while she tasked herself by mixing some vegetables to make a salad dish. It didn't take long for them to finish cooking at last and they finally settled at the dinner table. The family chatted amongst themselves, going idly on about their day. , going idly on about their day. When it was Jaehee’s time to talk, she kept it as vague as possible and responded with short answers, which they thankfully didn’t press on further. Soon enough, it was time to sleep, but being the kid she was, Jaehee stayed up to chat with her friends.

Afterwards, Jaehee turned off her phone and drew her blanket over, but didn’t close her eyes just yet. What had happened in the arcade today had been on her mind ever since they left. She never wanted all of that to happen, it was only an accident. Jaehee had a feeling she couldn’t control her... powers. Ruann had revealed her ability to use telekinesis, therefore, should she do the same thing? But to be fair, she’d only just realized she had something similar as well, which meant she, too, had the disease. One that killed thousands of kids like her already and she survived. Jaehee quickly shook her head to rid those thoughts, it scared the girl a bit. Within seconds of fighting an urge, she gave up and grabbed her phone again to message Jihan about the arcade.

_“Seriously?? That was u? That’s so cool!”_

_“Kajksdjk thx ig”_

Needless to say, the other girl was shocked, but in a good way. They went on and on about Jaehee's powers for about an hour. Soon enough, it was last 1AM in the morning and they were still texting back and forth. At some point, Jihan said they should sleep now but that somehow led to another hour. The two often did this as best friends, therefore, despite them being tired, they still stayed up for each other in case one of them wanted to say anything else. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to finally say goodnight and both girls fell asleep at last.

* * *

The sunlight illuminated Jaehee’s dark room as morning was beginning to reach its peak. She was woken up by poking on her shoulder and forehead. Familiar giggling allowed her to know who it was, so she wasn’t surprised to see a beaming Jihan staring back. Jaehee playfully tossed a teddy bear at her best friend before freshening up. Afterwards, they hung out for a bit in the room until Ruann finally sent the meet up location. They both responded before heading there immediately after, though not before making an excuse that they were going to hang out at their friend’s house. Luckily, Jaehee’s parents trusted the girls enough to let them leave without further questioning. Using Jihan’s phone for GPS, they raced towards the beach where Ruann had already arrived. But while on the way, the two girls sensed something was off and stopped when they approached a red light. To their horror, May wasn’t responding instantly like usual.

“No…no no no no….not her, too.” Jaehee frowned deeply, frantically messaging her friend. 

“Goddammit! It must’ve been because of last night. They probably saw us somehow and got May.” 

“But they couldn’t have! She left first before any of us did.”

“Ok, then…she could be busy—”

“Assumed that with Wonyoung, then Yujin. We know them just as much as we know May, so…….” It seemed obvious at this point, thus, Jaehee didn’t want to say it. 

Jihan realized they couldn’t stay any longer when the light turned green. She sighed before getting ready to pedal once more. “Come on, let’s just hurry. I’m sure Ruann already knows.”

Reluctantly, they continued on while feeling self conscious about being exposed in the open, especially after the night previously. It was their first time ever making a serious escape from _police officers._ The girls couldn’t imagine what would happen if they’d been caught for staying in that room for too long. Needless, it would be traumatic. Though aside from that, they wondered what their parents were thinking about this disease constantly being reported on the news. After about another mile, Jihan and Jaehee finally saw the beach ahead. Taking another turn, the girls rode the entrance, before casually riding down some stairs. They parked the bikes and gazed around to find Ruann, which she quickly beat them to. Two cans of Cola floated towards the girls as they caught it midair. When Jihan and Jaehee looked up, she stood before them, smiling.

“Might as well have a drink first, yeah?”

“Thanks…and l-listen, May’s—”

“Taken. I know. Been trying to get a hold of her since six in the morning and nothing.”

“That’s when she’s usually awake….” Jaehee slumped. 

“Let’s go sit down and discuss this.” Nodding, they both followed her to a table, then went straight to the point. “The police and military are taking kids somewhere, as Jihan had witnessed last night.”

“So what are we going to do?”

Ruann shook her head. “I don’t know. But I’m skipping school tomorrow.” 

“Are you going somewhere?” Jihan inquired. 

“Maybe. I’m gonna try and find some place where I can stay safe and far away from here. The military is heavily patrolling this city.”

“Oh, that makes sense. So, are you gonna leave?” The older girl nodded. 

“Yeah. But, I’ll try to find the others as much as possible.”

“How??” 

“Following those SWAT trucks is my best shot.”

“But they’ll see you though.” Jaehee had a good point, which Ruann had an answer to refute with. 

“They’re dumb enough to keep those unsupervised on the road. So I can follow them right behind and they won’t even notice anything.”

“I-I wouldn’t be so sure about that….” 

“No worries. I’ve got it all under control! Now, for the real reason we’re here, I want to see what kind of powers you guys have.”

“P-p-powers?? I’m not even sure I have one.” Jihan raised an eyebrow. 

“I already know mine.” The other girl raised her hand.

“Oh yeah! She told me last night.”

“Really? What is it?” 

“I think it’s manifesting electricity.” Jaehee momentarily looked for something to demonstrate it with, then she saw her empty soda can before grabbing it. But nothing happened. “Huh? That’s weird….”

“What are you trying to do?” Ruann asked.

“Well, since it’s metal, I thought I could shock it or something.”

“Or maybe you need an outlet, right? Because that’s what happened in the arcade yesterday.” 

“Oh! So you really did cause that. It surprised me a lot.”

“Haha yeah, sorry. I don’t think I can control it.”

“Hm…well, when I use telekinesis, I just think about it, like use my mind. Maybe you can try imagining yourself utilizing your powers? That could work.”

Jaehee understood, nodding then looked down at the soda can once more. And just like Ruann suggested, electricity suddenly shot out from Jaehee’s hand and her pupils turned bright yellow. The other two immediately ducked for cover as the can heated up, forcing her to drop on the sand. “Woah….” 

“Holy shit. You did that!” Jihan exclaimed gleefully while applauding with Ruann. 

“Yeah…yeah, I did.” She chuckled at herself. 

“Alright, now it’s your turn.” 

“Wh—what am I supposed to do??” 

“I don’t know. Try the same thing Jaehee did. You might have that ability, too.” 

“But—it seems dangerous!”

“You won’t know until you try, dork.”

She rolled her eyes at Ruann’s teasing before grabbing her own Cola can and standing up. Jihan narrowed her eyes at it, attempting to imagine electrical statics. But after a minute, nothing happened. “I don’t think this is working.”

“Hm, maybe you have something else then.” The older girl said, then held her hand out, levitating another can off the table. Jihan looked at Ruann’s gaze and was mesmerized by her bright blue eyes. The piece of metal floated above her hand momentarily, until she crushed it midair. “Try that.”

The younger girl squinted at her can again. To her amazement, it was hovering. She gasped loudly before it fell back into her hand. “I have telekinesis!!”

“You do, you do!” Jaehee mirrored the excitement while hopping along with her. 

“First you’ll be moving soda cans, then you’ll move on to this!” Next thing they knew, Ruann took a gallon of ocean water and playfully splashed it on them. Now Jihan and Jaehee were soaking wet, gasping at how freezing cold it was. 

“What was that for?!” 

“We have to go home after this!”

“You’ll be fine, it’ll dry out eventually.”

The two looked at each other, mischievous glints in their eyes as they both nodded. As a revenge, Jihan did the same thing at Ruann, causing her to yelp at the temperature. For the next hour, the three girls splashed each other while playing in the ocean, but not so much the fun when Jaehee ‘accidentally’ zapped them a little. This lasted for about an hour, until they decided to sit back and let themselves dry up before going home, which was luckily a speedy process given that it was quite windy today. Afterwards, the group rode their bicycles back home at last. They decided to make a quick stop by Ruann’s house, since she was going to leave tomorrow.

“I guess we’ll be apart for a while.” The older girl said. “I hope we can see each other soon. Be careful with the police and stuff.” 

“By the way, I realized something. What about your parents? Are you gonna tell them about this?” 

“Nah. They’re always at work anyways. I doubt they’ll even notice if I’m gone.” 

“Aw, Ruann. I’m sure that’s not true.” Jihan pouted, hoping the older girl would stay because she didn’t want any more of her friends gone. 

“Yeah….”

“Hey, don’t worry about me. I’ll contact you guys, alright? I’m leaving by tomorrow morning.” 

“Can we at least get a hug before you go?” 

She laughed a bit before nodding. They stayed in the embrace for a minute before separating. “Bye, guys.”

Ruann entered her empty house and took one last solemn look at her friends, before shutting the door. Jihan and Jaehee sadly sighed before biking the rest of their way home. During the ride, they agreed to have a sleepover at Jaehee’s this time. The two layed in bed together while going on their phones, either simply browsing through social media or rage quitting on difficult arcade games. Thankfully, Ruann was still texting them on Twitter and was active until she had to sleep. They were reluctant to let her get offline by annoying the poor girl with memes to no end, but she knew they meant it in good fun. A little past midnight, Jaehee was looking up the news while Jihan was busy with good ole’ Candy Crush, and doing terribly at it. She scrolled through numerous articles about the IAAN, as well as watching some videos. Apparently, it was also some strange phenomenon and according to doctors, 'kids weren’t themselves anymore.'

_“‘Weren’t themselves anymore’…? But…I’m still me.”_

Perhaps they were directing this lack of normalcy towards her powers. Shutting her phone off, she frowned while thinking; maybe it was best they skip school tomorrow as well. Jaehee turned around to tell Jihan this, who also agreed. They were sure their parents would understand, therefore, it was needless to worry much. The girls bid each other goodnight before finally sleeping. However, the thought of possibly being taken away from their home was still in mind.

* * *

Just like any morning, the sunlight was cruelly bright and wind certainly picked up today. Jihan groaned when she felt some weight, eyes opening to see Jaehee’s head peacefully resting her shoulder. Jihan sighed, figuring they should both rest a little longer before actually getting up. To block the light, she drew her arm over her eyes, then slept for another half an hour until Jaehee’s mother called them down to eat breakfast. Soon, everyone sat at the kitchen table while chatting amongst themselves. Just like the girls had hoped, her parents had spoken with Jihan’s and allowed them to skip school today because of the disease. They were glad, needless to say, then spent the whole day at the older girl’s house, doing whatever to satisfy their boredom. Mother and father were discussing something upstairs, leaving the girls to play games on Jaehee’s PlayStation.

“On your left! On your left!” Jihan frantically alerted before the enemy was finally shot down. 

“Ha! Got them!” 

“You should really heal up, by the way.” Jaehee was about to do so, until their map alerted them of more incoming. 

“Oh crap! Cover me!” 

“But we’re surrounded!” 

“Ugh! Where the hell are our teammates when we need them??”

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Right behind you.” She assumed they were safe until her character was sniped so hard, he glitched into the side of the mountain. It happened so quickly that they both cracked up. “Whoa!”

Jihan burst into laughter. “OMG. Did you get that??” 

“No, why would I be screen recording?”

“Because of moments like these.” The younger girl was so busy cackling at Jaehee’s hilarious misfortune that she eventually got sniped as well. Jihan took this time to breath and calm down. “That was so funny.” 

“Come on, let’s start another round.”

“Yeah, I wanna see that again.” She said while giggling as Jaehee rolled her eyes.

But just when they were about to begin, the TV abruptly switched channels to an urgent news report. Confused, she grabbed her remote to go back to their game, but they immediately halted seeing the live footage of soldiers forcing a child and their parents apart, before dragging them into a truck. Just like Yujin. They gasped at the horrible sight as the news reporter continued on with their script. But before they could finish, the soldiers threatened them with guns and told them to stop recording before smashing the camera’s monitor. Then it was offline as they resumed back to the news station where a female reporter was visibly stuttering after witnessing that.

_“U-um…so, moving on now. This mysterious, but deadly disease has been mainly targeting adolescent youths and young children alike. Over 90% of kids around the world are now deceased. However, the remaining survivors have been linked to numerous cases of reported “accidents,” such as sudden causes of fires, electrical power surges, and levitating vehicles. Doctors have no clue as to how this disease started or where it came from, but strict measures are being made. The military and police force are dispatched, by the President’s orders, to gather_ **_every single remaining child_ ** _they see.”_

They were shocked beyond belief, unable to process anything that was announced just now. This nightmare was only getting more real. It seemed like Jaehee’s parents had also seen the same broadcast as well when they rushed downstairs to see if the girls were alright. Shortly afterwards, there was frantic knocking on the door, which luckily turned out to just be Jihan’s parents who wanted to come inside. The adults gathered at the dinner table to discuss how they were going to keep their kids safe upon hearing this news and where they should escape to. Jihan and Jaehee were locked up in her bedroom, holding each other for comfort. All of this was so sudden that it was too difficult to think up a good plan.

“I’m scared….” The younger girl’s expression remained distressed as she pouted. Moments ago, she was having fun, but now things seemed to be getting completely out of their control. 

“Me, too. I don’t want them to take us away from our family.”

“Why are they even kidnapping us anyways? We can control our powers. We’re not bad, are we?”

“No, of course not.” Jaehee sighed, hugging her arm around Jihan’s shoulder a little tighter. 

“Whatever happens, I’ll keep you safe.” They both softly smiled at that. 

“Thanks. The feeling’s mutual.”

Back downstairs, the adults’ discussion came to a sudden halt when knocking interrupted them. It was so loud enough for Jihan and Jaehee to hear from above, thus, they pressed their ears against the bedroom door. A guttural voice shouted for anyone inside to let the military enter immediately for inspection and if they didn’t comply, force would be used. And true to the man’s words, the front door was broken down when Jihan’s father told them to piss off. Even though he was already angry, it was a big mistake. Everyone was handcuffed and forced to kneel on the ground. The captain casually strutted up to them, before getting down on their level. This time, his tone hinted at a threat.

“I’ll ask you all this once and one time only. Where are your kids?” 

“Like I said, they’re not here.” Jihan’s father mocked him, which only earned a punch to the face. His wife cried out. 

“Please! Stop! None of you have to do this!”

“Search for them.”

Orders were followed instantly and they searched every single room. The kitchen was absolutely ransacked, the living room trashed, and bathrooms destroyed. Unnecessary, of course. But abuse of power was abuse of power. Soon enough, they reached the bedrooms. It didn’t take long for one of them to find Jaehee’s that was locked. They demanded for the door to open, but none of them responded back, which forced the soldiers to break it down as well. However, the last thing they expected was for Jihan to send them flying into the wall, hard enough to slip into unconsciousness. Jaehee rushed out with the younger behind, but they stopped immediately upon seeing two more soldiers. Just before they could blast their ultrasonic guns, she pressed her hand on an outlet, causing electrical sparks to spurt out from ceiling lights everywhere, even striking some soldiers and knocked them out. 

The captain took over while the girls’ parents frantically scooted under a table. Jihan and Jaehee booked for it downstairs, holding each others’ hands. They were so close to escaping until the ultrasonic ringing blared out. Jihan was instantly immobilized and fell to the ground, completely unmoving and Jaehee harshly shoved to the ground by another soldier guarding the entrance. She immediately covered her ear and screamed for it to stop. Jihan’s parents yelled on the top of their lungs as well. The captain rolled his eyes before taking his finger off the trigger, though the younger girl still couldn’t move. Jaehee quickly crawled to Jihan and shook her.

“Hey, hey, are you ok?” Voice cracking slightly as she immediately thought of the worst case scenario until Jihan groaned. Jaehee sighed in relief. “Oh, thank god….”

He chuckled at the sight. “This baby right here works very effectively on blues. So you must have that telekinesis power, huh?” 

“If I say yes, will you shut your ass up?” Jaehee glared menacingly, causing him to laugh. 

“You got a big mouth, don’t you? I’d think before saying anything to someone who could easily put a bullet right through your head.” He threatened while pulling a gun from his waistband and aimed directly at Jaehee’s forehead, who didn't flinch whatsoever. “But, that would tarnish my name. So you and your little girlfriend best get in the back before things get ugly, yeah?” She narrowed her eyes at that statement while Jihan let out a small, confused groan. “Take them.”

They were both forcibly dragged out of the house while their parents screamed for their names, encouraging them to power through to wherever they were going to be taken. It would be the last time the girls would ever hear from them again when the SWAT truck’s doors closed. When it was far away enough and out of sight, gunshots sounded in Jaehee’s house. In the vehicle, there were a few other kids sitting inside, just as nervous and scared as they were. Jihan still couldn’t move as the ringing was stuck in her mind. Jaehee had no idea what to do, other than stay close by and comfort her. Thankfully, someone else in the van had a solution.

“Shock her. It works.” A very straightforward advice. 

“What?” 

“Shock. Her. You know, zap? You have that ability, don’t you?” 

“Y-yeah, but…wouldn’t that hurt her?” 

“So? It’ll help.”

“Um…ok, if you say so….” Jaehee reluctantly did so by putting her hand on Jihan’s shoulder. And true to her words, she could move again. 

“Ow! God, that hurt so bad.” Jihan groaned as the other girl apologized profusely. 

“See? Told ya.” Jaehee helped Jihan onto the bench carefully as possible since the truck was still moving. 

“Thanks for the tip. What’s your name?” 

“Gowon.” 

“Do you perhaps know where they’re taking us?” 

“To the camps. They took all of my friends and I happen to be the last one.”

“Oh...” Jihan spoke up. “Us too.” 

“Lovely. If you fight through the struggles, you’ll be completely fine.” 

“Thanks, I guess. Wait, how do you know they’re taking us there?” 

“A little birdie told me.”

The two friends looked at each other confused, but decided to not ask any further. Everyone remained silent for the next mile, simply listening to the driver and passenger occasionally arguing about something stupid. Before they knew it, the truck stopped in front of Jihan and Jaehee’s school. They peeked through the little window and saw the familiar gates, confused as to why some kids still went to school today. As the girls pondered more, the doors suddenly opened and two more were dragged inside. Jihan and Jaehee recognized them. They were on the road again, this time crossing into Seoul.

“Um, Soojin unnie?” Jaehee whispered out, quickly catching her attention and she gasped. 

“Jaehee? Jihan?? You guys are here, too?” 

“Y-yeah. They got us while we were at home.” Jihan informed, then Zoa revealed their side of the story. 

“We were talking in the bathroom about the news and IAAN. I’m sure you guys know.” They both nodded as she continued, whispering. “They’re taking us to quarantine. And I think…once there, we’ll stay forever.” 

“What? N-no, that can’t be….” 

“It’s horrible, I know. But,” Zoa leaned in for only them to hear. “I’m about three steps ahead of them.”

She implied something, but it sounded like good news. Jihan and Jaehee smiled briefly before remaining quiet for the rest of the ride. They leaned on each other for comfort, patiently waiting for them to reach the camp. Minutes passed, as well as a wild goose chase that earned the truck a new member. Jihan didn’t say anything as Soeun sat next to her, but felt bad seeing her nose bleed. Luckily, Zoa had taken care of that. Then another half an hour and everything finally stopped moving. Jihan and Jaehee separated to get their assigned colored suits and “dorm” as they called it. The two of them didn’t bother getting lunch in the cafeteria, too distraught to be out in the open when they’d just been taken away from their lives. When the coast was clear and no guards were patrolling the hallways, Jihan easily snuck her way to an upper floor where golds were staying and found Jaehee’s room. Soon, they were on the older girl’s bed, simply in each other’s embrace.

“I want to leave this place already…not even a full day and they’re already making me do shitty work for them.”

Jaehee softly groaned, the same was said for her. “Yeah…they're making me work with this other girl to power some machine. I couldn't care enough to see what they were doing.”

“Why can't they do it themselves…?”

“Because cops and the military are lazy bastards.”

Jihan lightly giggled. “I just hope my parents are ok.”

“We'll get out of here and visit them. I'm sure of it.”

“Should we talk with Zoa and Soojin unnie later?”

“Mhm. Tomorrow?”

The younger girl nodded before closing her eyes, hoping for a quick nap. Jaehee allowed it, keeping her arm around the tired girl's shoulder. A few months pass by and no luck of getting out soon. All they could do was rely on each other, as well as some friends. All they could do was power through, no matter what. Over time, the soldiers grew stricter with other kids pulling stupid stunts like mocking authorities, talking crap, and other things far worse. But even with the world gone down the drain, there was still hope. A hope so little, but powerful enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd like, follow me on Twitter @kumahye :D


	4. Imprisoned

Yet another lousy morning on a lousy school day. Everyone wanted to stay in from school and/or work, just to escape their stress. However, the alarm clock had other plans, obnoxiously screaming at everyone in the house to get their lazy butts out of bed. Well, except for one person, Jiyoon just couldn’t hear it at all. This prompted her older sister, Dahyun, to burst into the bedroom and yank her pillow away before hitting the poor girl with it. After a quick scold and demand to hurry up, Jiyoon was downstairs at the dinner table in no time, fully awake. Her mother watched the news on her phone after cooking breakfast. They sat across from her, downing their bowls full of vegetables and eggs.

“Hm…these live broadcasts have been quite chaotic lately.”

“‘Chaotic’ how?” Dahyun asked while drinking her milk. 

“Something about a disease called IAAN or whatever. They just released an article about it.”

“Oh.” The younger girl stopped momentarily, allowing a grain of rice to fall from her lip. “Shouldn’t we stay home then?” 

“Nope. School is still school, so I expect you both attend accordingly.” Their mother was as strict as ever. They wanted to roll their eyes but would rather not receive an hour lecture about respect. “And especially you, Jiyoon. You’re going to graduate very soon and I expect you to receive the highest rank.”

“Yes, mom.” She replied before getting up to wash her own dishes.

Afterwards, they walked out together and made their way towards the convenience store to buy some snacks. Thankfully, it was large enough to sell all of their favorite ones. Jiyoon grabbed a whole pack of green tea flavored KitKats and a bottle of milk while Dahyun had a handful of chocolate. Once close to Jiyoon’s school, they decided to rest for a bit and relax while sharing their snacks with each other. Sort of. Mostly just Dahyun taking most of her KitKats like nothing. Jiyoon, on the other hand, was too tired to even notice and just let the older girl do whatever she pleased but held onto her little milk carton. Thankfully, they could sit there long enough until around 11am since Jiyoon’s first class started then.

“Do you think mom’s been a little too strict with us and our education lately?”

“What’s the difference? She’s always been cranky.”

“Even in times of a pandemic or something? What’s it called…oh, IAAN.”

“Mom's response to that is: ‘a pandemic shouldn’t slow you down in being successful unless you’re a wuss.’”

“Haha true.”

“I heard it’s pretty bad though.”

“Then schools should be shut down, right?” 

“Who knows. Either way, I’m going to Nayeon’s house.”

Jiyoon side eyed her. “Mom would kill you….”

 _“If_ she finds out. And if you tell her anything, I’m stealing your crate of snacks.”

“Wait, wh—how did you find that??”

“Your small closet isn’t the best place to hide stuff, you know.” Dahyun playfully rolled her eyes while Jiyoon remained astonished. She then frowned. “Hm…it’s a little over hundred degrees out here…summer is really going to kick my ass.”

“A hundred degrees?? It’s cool out here though.”

“Because you’re weird. The temperature was just measured right here.” And sure enough, Jiyoon raised both of her eyebrows, surprised to see the exact on Dahyun’s phone.

“Oh…that’s weird. I’ve felt a hundred degrees before though. Today feels nothing like that. Maybe because the wind picked up?”

“Anyways, you should go now before you’re late. It’s already 10:30.” 

“Ugh, alright.” 

“See you later, Jiyoonie.”

They separated as she walked the whole way to school, crossing through neighborhoods before reaching a familiar block. Along the street, she browsed through social media, catching up with the latest news while munching on some candy. The broadcasts being overwhelming were quite an understatement, needless to say. Jiyoon couldn’t even catch up to what everyone was so freaked out about. Yes, it was about the disease, but there was so much at once she could barely read important articles. But one fact Jiyoon found out really scared her: _‘over 90% of kids…are now deceased….’_ Frowning, she squinted at the headline, trying to make sense out of it, also wondering if her family was seeing this, too. Jiyoon was so distracted that she didn’t see someone walking towards her before bumping into their shoulder.

“Oof! Sorry! Are you alright?” They simply nodded while timidly distancing away without saying anything else. Jiyoon did so as well, occasionally looking back. When far enough, she began muttering to herself. “I’ve seen her before. Who was it, uh…Sooin? Sooeun? Ah, whatever.”

Jiyoon merely shrugged before resuming the video she’d been watching. The really odd thing was that there were no articles about schools shutting down. She assumed that they did in fact do that, but quietly for whatever reason. Sighing, Jiyoon checked some group chats, realizing none of her friends have been active for over a week now. It felt quite lonely just going on social media; no one liked her tweets like usual, even commenting jokes and/or retweeting. Her timeline was practically empty, but there wasn't much she could do. Soon enough, Jiyoon reached the school in no time and towards class. However, once at the gate, a sign stopped her from going further.

_‘Lockdown’?? Couldn’t they have emailed me this in the morning?_

That wasn’t all it said. The sign included instructions for every student who sees this sign should proceed to the school’s library at once, which Jiyoon did afterwards. While walking there, she checked her phone to make sure she wasn’t missing any news updates and what not. As Jiyoon got closer, it was noticeably very empty around campus. She felt odd seeing that since people were always crowding here with their friends and doing whatever. Shrugging, Jiyoon neared the library and within a few more steps, she noticed the lights were off…even though they’re always supposed to be on. Jiyoon began having second thoughts, unsure whether or not it was safe to go inside, despite the sign’s instructions. 

Speaking of which, she actually wasn’t sure if the school put that up themselves. Being the one to follow rules though, Jiyoon timidly opened the library’s door. Despite everything being completely dark, she peeked inside anyways. When it looked safe to Jiyoon, the entrance was then wide open and she stepped in, not expecting what was going to happen next. Out of nowhere, Jiyoon was instantly shoved to the ground, pinned down by two soldiers who apprehended her with handcuffs.

“Hey!! The hell’s going on?! Release me!” 

“Shut it, kid. Don’t bother resisting and sit with everyone else.”

“Huh?? What are you—ugh!”

Jiyoon was dragged then thrown on the ground, adding to the dozens of peers who were also handcuffed, some even had rags over their mouths. One of them being her friends, Chowon, who hadn’t been on social media for weeks. Not because she didn’t want to but because she _couldn’t._ When Jiyoon saw Chowon’s eyes full of fear, she grew more nervous and scooted closer to her. She gave Chowon a worried look, as if asking the younger girl was alright. Jiyoon received a small nod, then turned back to glare at the soldiers who’d handcuffed her. Whatever this whole bullshit was, it made her more angry than scared. Chowon frowned when she felt slight heat radiating from Jiyoon, but didn’t get a chance to think longer than a second when another soldier began announcing something.

“Everyone in this room must comply with anything we say. Resistance will be futile. Anyone who tries anything dumb like attempting to escape, you’ll be shot on the spot.”

He didn’t say anything else before signalling the others to round up everyone. All of the kids were shoved into SWAT trucks and luckily, Jiyoon was able to sit next to Chowon for the whole ride. At least some comfort for this absolutely bizarre day. She heard some argument outside between the soldiers before the vehicle finally moved. Even though it’d only been about five minutes, it felt like hours. After a while of silence and simply sitting, Jiyoon began hearing a voice out of nowhere, looking around to see who was talking to her. But it seemed no one paid Jiyoon any attention. Maybe she was hallucinating at this point. Until they spoke again, trying to get her attention. Telepathy? And weirdly enough, it sounded like…

_Hey, Jiyoonie!_

_Uh…Chowon?! How are you doing this??_

_I don’t know, honestly your guess is as good as mine. From what I’ve learned, I'm able to control minds. And hey, look at my eyes, aren't they cool?_

_Woah! Why are they orange like that?_

_They said it’s because of IAAN. Some disease that gave us powers. Survivors are being taken away._

_Wait, wait, wait, powers??_

_Yeah. So that means you have some, too._

_Uh—ok. Where the heck are they taking us? Couldn’t they have done less violently?_

_They set that sign up for a trap. And who knows. But somewhere far away, I suppose._

_This is insane. All of this happened out of nowhere._

_I know…I couldn’t go online for weeks because my parents cut off the internet access for some reason. But I’ve been trying to get a hold of the others. What about you?_

_Me, too. Nothing. We have to get out of here._

_Yeah. I don’t know though, I’m scared. They said not to try anything._

_So? They wouldn’t actually kill us…right?_

Chowon shrugged. _I’d rather not found out._

_Well there’s gotta be something we can do._

She didn’t respond back after that, but every now and then, Jiyoon would hear Chowon’s voice in her head, asking stuff about life, how her day was, etc. It felt nice, even though they weren’t physically talking. Jiyoon’s first experience with telepathy was quite surreal and honestly, very cool. They drove for miles as Chowon eventually grew sleepy, resorting to the older girl’s shoulder as a pillow. Jiyoon had a lot in her mind, wondering if family and friends were safe at all. Thankfully, she still had her backpack on so hopefully once they get to whatever this place was, she’d be able to keep it along. While the kids sat quietly in the truck, country music played on the driver’s radio, seeming to be one of his favorites. One of the kids in the back looked to be in complete despair hearing the song. Nothing would’ve made that person happier than to throw the radio out the window. Jiyoon might’ve found this funny, had it not been for the situation right now. 

Soon enough, they finally arrived at their destination when the truck’s door opened abruptly. Her eyes were momentarily blinded by all the light that came flooding in. Upon being dragged out, the soldiers finally unlocked the handcuffs and removed the rags, only to force everyone to form single file lines. They were led into a gigantic building that housed almost an entire city population. When Jiyoon looked inside, she couldn’t even hide her horrified shock. Numerous other kids inside were dressed in colored prison suits, mostly green, blue and yellow. Or gold, they called it. Why on earth were they segregated in colors? And why just those colors…? And well, Jiyoon was about to find out. 

She was then led into the hallways, towards a certain room. However, it was oddly crowded with many other soldiers. They kept asking where Section One’s doctor was and the two guards who’d apparently been keeping watch didn’t know at all nor remembered where he went. And it seemed like no one was going to find out any soon with all the back talking. Afterwards, Jiyoon was instead led into another room for examination. When inside, a female doctor formally greeted her before telling her to sit on the chair for a quick neuroscan.

“Um, so what is this for again?”

“This is to see what your powers are.”

“Oh…and what happens after you find out?” 

“Well if you’re Gold and below, you’re completely safe.”

“Then what about the last two—”

“Please sit still, I’m about to start this up.” The doctor informed Jiyoon while still looking at the computer monitor before her. She didn’t say anything else and sighed, leaning back on the chair. After an anxious wait, she grew more nervous when the doctor looked visibly shocked.

Shin Jiyoon: **Red**

“J-just wait here, ok? Everything will be fine….” The tone was very hesitant, which made Jiyoon fight the insane urge to not dash out of the room right now. But before she could even do anything, about three soldiers entered, grabbing her arms. 

“Wh—hey, where are you taking me??”

“Don’t speak.” Without another word, she was led into a darker, more isolated hallway. Next thing Jiyoon knew was being shoved into a changing room. “Put that on and come out when you’re done.” He immediately shut the door behind him.

She glanced at the wall, which hung a black suit and protective gear. There was a vest, some knee and elbow caps, as well as boots. Raising an eyebrow, wondering what the big deal was. When one of them banged on the door for Jiyoon to hurry up, she hastily wore it on without further questioning. In no time, it was another round of being dragged around the place just to locate one place. What was strange to her, however, was that the soldiers were trying their best not to be seen by anyone, which failed when a green was walking to her room as they passed. The girl lowered her head while the soldiers continued on. 

Jiyoon peered over and looked at her back, silently pleading for help and unconsciously said it telepathically. The girl instantly turned around, looking frightened before retreating into her room. Jiyoon felt bad for scaring her, but at the same time was confused. She didn’t have time to ponder on with her thoughts as the soldiers led her into some isolated chamber. Jiyoon had a feeling this was some place where experimentation took place. Unexpectedly, she was then placed into a cell and strapped down onto some chair.

“Hey! Why am I placed here and not with everyone else??” 

“Because you’re a Red, idiot. And in case you haven’t been told, your power is arguably the most dangerous one on the chart.”

“W-what…no, no that can’t be.”

The soldiers didn’t stick around to hear it before leaving without another word. The sentence echoed in her ear, which stuck around for minutes. While Jiyoon was stuck in her thoughts, someone suddenly spoke to her. “Hi.” 

“…hey?” 

“I guess, we’re stuck here together.” 

“What _is_ this place?”

“The testing room.”

“Oh, I figured.” 

“That mirror you see is where they sit and watch us burn down this shit hole.” 

“Wait, are there more people?”

“To your right.” And as the person had told Jiyoon, three others were locked up just like them. 

“S-so they’re reds, too?” 

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“I see….”

“My name’s Chaerin. What about you?” 

“Jiyoon.” 

“Nice to meet you.”

They both continued talking after that, going idly on about stuff. After a while, having her wrists and ankles restricted was unbearable, making Jiyoon feel like some prisoner and unwanted in society just because of her powers. It’s not like she even knew how to use it, so there wasn’t a possibility that anyone could be hurt by her. At least Jiyoon hoped so. Thankfully, Chaerin was able to keep her company for the months that would follow. For experiment number one, the military had wanted to see how much fire power Jiyoon could use. Needless, to say she could barely use it as that was her first time ever trying anything like that. 

Therefore, Jiyoon barely pulled off a huff of small flames, unimpressive but no one could really blame her. For weeks on end, Chaerin would be forced to help Jiyoon utilize her power for the military’s benefits, and soon, she was able to exhale an enormous trail of fire in their fifth experiment. Being the army’s puppet wasn’t exactly ideal and Jiyoon almost considered turning against them. But she decided to hold off for a while, fear of causing any disruption that could very easily escalate. Jiyoon simply continued to follow along, still holding the hope that one day…she’ll help everyone and herself escape this hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that all of the girls have been revealed at last, this is only just beginning >:D


	5. Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another chapter! I hope you enjoy uwu

Machinery and engines ran day by day as the ominous smoke gasped out of metal chimneys. So much for the government preaching about healthy air. Six months had somehow already gone by. You know what they say, time flies when you’re stuck in forced government labor camps. Greens were stuck building machine guns for dumb ‘manufacturers’ who couldn’t do it themselves, resorting to kids and teenagers to finish their dirty work. Meanwhile, Blues and Golds were on their regular chores as well; moving tons of equipment and serving as walking generators. There were no Reds, neither were there Oranges, except for Soeun. She’d been begrudgingly following the routine like usual, while also finding her own loopholes around things. And thankfully, for these past few months, she didn’t need to get rid of anyone. Despite there being no other Oranges around, Soeun had been curious if she were to ever meet one someday. But who knew. Oranges were killed on sight because of how dangerous they were. 

Currently, it was yet another day of labor and Soeun was crafting _yet another_ machine gun. Or tried to at least. Luck was not on her side today as she was struggling more than usual to solve this puzzle. Maybe it was just a brain dead moment or the machine gun was of a different design. Little did she know, it was one of the ultrasound ones that were used to immobilize kids. Those hurt like hell and Soeun could’ve swore she even suffered a slight stroke, but was able to recover quickly without anyone questioning it. According to what she’d seen, it worked quite effectively on Blues after some dude couldn’t move for an entire hour or two. The soldiers made an excuse that they were simply ‘testing’ their little toy. While Soeun was trying to figure out where to attach the barrel, the captain noticed her visibly struggling then approached, a sneer plastered all over his face.

"This goes across the trigger." Soeun had the insane urge to nail him in the face.

"I don't need your help, sir." 

"Yeah? Then why do you think I'm helping you right now?" 

"I didn't ask for your help, because, as I said, it's not needed." 

He chuckled, smirking. “You don’t act like any other Greens I’ve seen these few months. Almost like…you’re not smart enough to be one….” Soeun didn’t say anything further, simply continuing on with her work. “What? Got nothin’ to refute now, girlie?” 

“I’m just trying to do my job.” 

“And pretty piss poor at it. Whatever you’re trying to hide, you won’t do it any longer when we do the reexaminations. Let’s see how you’ll handle the ultrasonic sounds.” He laughed at her, malice coating his sickening cackles. However, the captain was also dumb enough to place his hand on Soeun’s shoulder, thus allowing her to grab it. And instantly, she overpowered his mind. 

“If you _ever_ cross me again,” whispering, “…I’ll make you **bleed**. So what you’re gonna do is shut your ass up and leave me alone. Understand?”

“Yes…I understand.”

Then without another word, he turned away like nothing happened. Somehow, none of the other guards noticed this and continued on with their day. Thank goodness for her everyone was ignoring the encounter, seemingly just minding their own business. Sighing, she finally attached the barrel where it was supposed to go before piecing the rest. What sped up this process more was occasionally peaking over to the person right beside her while she followed along as much as possible. After another hour of work, it was finally time for lunch, or at least what they called lunch. At best it looked like some kind of wet porridge and basil paste. Everyone usually just went there for the fruit juices, but even those were starting to lose their appeal. Soeun decided to skip again, instead resorting to being isolated in her room. Walking down the hallways, she simply paced forward and looked at the ground with an empty expression. This morning could’ve went better if that stupid captain didn’t have his head up his ass, wasting time to try and intimidate Soeun. During her whole stay in this dump, she barely got scared of the soldiers, or anyone for that matter. It was almost funny seeing them yell at her, only backing down when all the attention they received was nothing more than a bored, blank stare. 

As Soeun continued on, she noticed some people approaching but kept her head lowered. Whatever this involved, she merely minded her own business, remaining silent. The heavy footsteps of boots were some soldiers, Soeun assumed as she rolled her eyes, having grown distasteful just being around them. Though, overtime, she was able to learn the ability to read people's minds, therefore, whenever any of those pigs would throw an insult out of nowhere, Soeun easily gave them the karma they rightfully deserved. She decided to try it again, just to see if anyone was going to say anything as they walked by. But what Soeun never expected was to hear someone else’s voice.

_Help me…please!_

Startled, she swiftly turned around, frowning as eyes widened. Soeun's gaze met another girl, seemingly around the same age. Not wanting to be outside any longer, she hastily barged into her room, slamming the door shut behind. Taking a deep breath, Soeun plopped on the bed, wanting to forget about everything that had already happened today. She feared for her safety and hoped not to meet that girl again anytime soon. Soeun momentarily napped for a few minutes, quite close to falling asleep. Until someone rudely interrupted by knocking on her door.

* * *

The alarm they’d set for this place made all the kids want to rip their ears off. How did the military people even deal with an obnoxiously loud siren every single morning? The routine was to freshen up in eight minutes, put on your colored suits and get ready for “early work”. Child labor was what everyone called it, but obviously didn’t say that phrase aloud in fear of the soldiers hearing it. Anything that even remotely offended them would get a warning and then after that was basically hell. By this point, they were just too easy to provoke. Their cashew sized brains could only hold so much ego. Greens were piled in some old, rusty factory for engineering work. They’d helped military scientists program contraptions to run experiments, build new and improved motors for trucks, and lastly, create weapons for them. Mostly just machine guns because that’s what the soldiers love using. 

Zoa was practically half asleep at her desk, barely having the strength to do anything. It took her a day or two to remember which piece goes where and would usually finish first. Surely they would let her off the hook for slacking just one day. It’d been about an hour since work started and Zoa was quite close to finishing. However, every once in a while, she would catch the captain often looking towards her area. Following his trail of vision, he was only eyeing the person in front of her, whom she immediately recognized. It was the girl that Soojin offered a handkerchief to for the nose bleed. Soeun, was it? She definitely recovered from that nasty injury. As Zoa continued putting together the last few pieces, the girl grew more confused, or rather concerned, when the captain walked closer to her area.

He started conversing with Soeun, but did so mockingly like he was suspicious about something. Zoa couldn’t help but eavesdrop a little and heard him clearly trying to intimidate her. But surprisingly, Soeun held off pretty well, not minding this one bit while putting on a straight face. Zoa carefully admired across, wondering when this would be over until the captain stopped pestering. The last thing she expected to see, however, was Soeun grabbing hold of his wrist, whispering eerily. The younger girl definitely got chills down her spine upon listening in on Soeun’s rather sinister threat and subtly looked in shock, catching a glimpse of the orange eyes that contrasted her green suit. He walked away like nothing just happened as Zoa continued staring. This whole time, Soeun was an Orange? Before she could think further about this, the bells signalled for lunch as everyone soon piled into the enormous cafeteria. It also didn’t take long for Zoa to meet up with Soojin and Monday again. The girls grabbed bowls of gruel, to pretend they were eating, and the fruit juice as usual. After grabbing a table, Zoa frowned when she noticed something.

“Hey, where are Jaehee and Jihan?” 

“They both wanted to skip lunch for the day.” Soojin replied.

“Ah, understandable.”

Monday consumed a tiny bit of the gruel from her spoon before asking. “How was your guys’ work?”

“Frustrating.” The oldest rolled her eyes, then answered quietly. “They never even bother to help move things and just stand there like idiots 24/7.” 

“Ugh, tell me about it. Shit’s so boring here. All I get to do is put my hand in some wires to power up things for them to play with.” Monday snarled while sharing her stories, causing the girls to laugh. 

“What about you, Zoa?” 

“Oh, well…kind of complicated in my opinion.”

“‘Complicated’ how?” Soojin furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

“You guys remember Soeun?” 

“Yeah, she’s pretty recluse.” 

The older girl shook her head. “I’m sure she’s feeling just as terrible as we are. Hell, it’s been months already. 

“So anyways, I was making another machine gun and the captain walked up to her, saying stuff like she wasn’t smart enough to be a Green or something.”

Soojin and Monday were taken aback. “Wait, why though?”

“Apparently because she was struggling with something? And he kept pestering her, then…uh, I don’t know if I should tell you guys.”

The oldest was quick to reassure. “Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone at all.” Monday agreed wholeheartedly as Zoa nodded, continuing. 

“Soeun’s an Orange.” She whispered loud enough for them to hear. Soojin couldn’t help but gasp. 

“Oh my god…how did they not find out on the first day we got here?”

Monday shrugged. “Well, I mean, she has mind control so that’s a _huge_ advantage around here.”

Despite this, Soojin still had a bad feeling. “Shouldn’t we be worried though? What if something happens to her?” 

“I’m actually planning to go talk with her right now.” Zoa informed them. 

“And what are you going to say? If you tell Soeun you know she’s an Orange, she might not take it well.” 

Soojin nodded. “Yeah.”

“I know what I’m doing and thought it out already. I’ll be quick.” The older was reluctant to let her younger sister go by herself, but knew Zoa wouldn’t intentionally get into trouble.

“Alright, we’ll be here if you need to find us.” But just when she was about to leave, Soojin hastily stopped her. “Wait! One more thing. Give this to Soeun. She might need it.” 

Zoa chuckled while holding apple juice. “Ok. Be back in a bit.”

She finally left by crossing through the exit and then into hallways towards the floor where Greens belonged. Times flew all the way towards spring, also known as allergy season, thus many kids weren't able to work these past few weeks. Thankfully, Zoa didn’t have to worry about that too much. She remembered the first time they tried to assign every single kid a room, but there was an overwhelming number of Green than Blues and Golds. This prompted for a compromise and allowed some to either room with each other or Blues. However, she wasn't lucky enough to get a room with Soojin. Sighing, she continued walking on, too much already in her mind. 

Zoa was about to turn a corner before suddenly bumping into a soldier. He didn't have to yell for her to move aside, then moved on. Scoffing quietly, she didn't bother looking back to see who he was dragging with his partner and entered another hall. Soon, Zoa arrived at her destination: Soeun's room, as conveniently plastered on the door. Of course there were some hesitations about whether or not to knock. But, here goes nothing. After doing it three times, Zoa patiently waited, though feeling a bit anxious. She heard a soft groan on the other side and some ruffling before the door flew open, her eyes meeting Soeun's glare.

"What do you want?" Clearly not interested. 

“I just want to talk, is all.” 

“About?” 

“Why don’t we go inside? Might not want to talk out in the open like this.” After a moment of silence and hesitation, Soeun opened the door wider, allowing Zoa to enter before shutting it behind. “Before I get to the point, my older sister offered this for you.” 

She frowned while accepting the apple juice. “Uh, why?” 

“Soojin unnie thought you might need it.” 

“Ok…thanks, I guess.”

“Alright. So, how does being Green make you feel?” 

“Huh?” Soeun raised an eyebrow as Zoa simply repeated.

“How does being a Green make you feel?” 

“I don’t know…fine?” 

“Can you elaborate?”

“W-what—what do you want me to elaborate?”

“Hm. I see.” Soeun shook her head, even more confused, so she quickly filled her in. “A Green would typically answer that question like, ‘it makes sense for me to be one, because that’s what I am, therefore, it feels normal.’ So, why do you hesitate?” 

“…what are you on about?”

“Allow me to explain further. A Green wouldn’t just let me into their room until they know what I’m truly here for. Yes, they would be suspicious as well, but also keep their grounds and challenge me more. They wouldn’t say they’re ‘fine’.”

“Well since you want the exact answer, being a Green makes me feel normal. Are you happy now?” 

“Normal in a way that’s _safe_ for you.” Zoa wittedly refuted. 

Soeun didn’t want to listen to anymore of this nonsense. “Leave. Now.” 

“Wait, wait—I haven’t—!” She wasn’t able to finish after being yanked by the elbow, then led out of the room. 

“And don’t come back.” 

“Now hold on a minute!” The older girl glared at her. “Ok so my approach wasn’t exactly the best. But, we need your help.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“My sister, Soojin, and our other friends.” 

“What do you want my help for?” 

“Because…because I saw what happened this morning…you’re an Orange.” The next thing Zoa knew, she was immediately pinned to the wall, Soeun’s wrist harshly pressing against her neck. 

“You tell _anyone,_ I will make sure you regret ever talking to me. So you’re gonna forget this and move on with your life. I don’t have to help you because I can easily get out of here myself.” What she didn’t realize was that Zoa wasn’t easily influenced by such mind control. 

“I can think for myself, thank you very much.”

Soeun frowned when her powers weren’t working, which was a bit scary. “How…?”

“We can help each other, please.” The younger girl tried to inform in between breaths but it was getting harder. Thankfully, her neck was soon released and she momentarily went into a fit of coughs. 

“Why should I trust you?” 

“Because I’m offering. And so are my friends.”

She narrowed, not knowing what to respond. But there still needed to be some consideration before agreeing entirely. This seemed too good to be true, so anything could happen, bad or good. Soeun didn’t say anything else and simply gave a small nod, then closed her door, locking it. Zoa sighed while rubbing her neck as lots of questions appeared in mind. She really was too smart for her own good sometimes. But hopefully the plan will go, with or without Soeun’s help. Just as Zoa was heading back to the cafeteria, Soojin called out and ran up to her.

“Hey, there you are. It’s been fifteen minutes.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I was able to talk things out.” 

“What did you say?” 

“I asked if she wanted to help with the plan, so now we just have to wait for her answer.” The sisters began heading walking away. 

“Oh, alright. Did she also, um,” Soojin slowly continued, “take the apple juice?”

“Yeah, she said thanks by the way.” 

“Ah…that’s good.” She smiled to herself, but was certainly not fooling anyone with that, especially Zoa. The younger girl stopped and squinted at her. “What?” 

“Do you perhaps li—”

“Shh! Not so loud, Zoa!” 

“Aha! So you do!” 

“Yah! Lee Hyewon!”

A little game of tag ensued between the two dorks, fits of giggling and teasing echoing in the hallways. After their voices weren’t heard anymore, Soeun cautiously reopened her door again while looking confused. She’d just opened the small carton and was currently drinking from it when there was commotion outside. Crazy how even they could have fun in such a dark place like this, though maybe the sisters were still kids after all. Shrugging, Soeun shut it once more before laying back down on her bed.

“Weirdos.”


	6. Ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short, but don't worry, I'm almost done with the next one uwu

**Month six, week three, day seven. Check.**

All the typing from keyboards, the roar of the machines, and computers constantly beeping were not a pleasant combination. The whole room was crowded with scientists scurrying around, files in their arms while also worrying about taking calls. Needless to say, it was oddly busy at this time. Still, the kids didn’t pay them too much attention. It’d been months now and the military weren’t going to let them leave any time soon, but thankfully Golds didn’t have to do much. The extent of their work was powering up some machines. At this point, they almost envied Blues and Greens for getting to do actual work and moving around more. It got so boring, especially just sitting for hours on end. Jaehee sighed as she leaned back in the chair, her hand exuding energy into wires that connected to various machinery. She was very tempted to just click on some buttons on the panels for fun and see what happens, but the glares of soldiers watching her and other kids said otherwise. 

The girl sitting next to her was named Jimin, but went by the unique nickname, Monday. Jaehee saw her sinking further and further into depression as weeks went by, no sign of her getting better anytime soon. She felt bad seeing Monday in such a state and wanted to comfort the older girl. Jaehee had told Jihan about this, who also suggested the same thing. Therefore, maybe after work would be the right time. It didn’t help that soldiers didn’t even bat an eye at kids’ mental state, completely disregarding it as being ‘overly dramatic’. Jaehee could only hope they didn’t keep this energy towards their own family. Aside from that, a lot was on her mind lately. Zoa had told her and Jihan that she was currently devising a plan with Soojin, one that would surely guarantee escape. She was determined to hold onto that hope for a while, eager to leave sooner or later. Soon enough, lunch began like usual as she searched around for Jihan in the crowd. After bumping and shoving in the sea of kids, they finally spotted each other, holding hands in relief.

“Hey! How are you feeling?” Jaehee smiled asking, which eased her stress a bit. 

Jihan returned the kind gesture before answering. “Little better than yesterday, I suppose.” 

“That’s nice. I still can’t do anything else other than sit in a chair all day.”

“I honestly feel like it’s better that way.”

“Hm, I know.” She pouted, growing tired of being bored at work and doing nothing most of the time. “Anyways, do you want to go get lunch and meet up with the others again?” 

To her surprise, Jihan shook her head. “I’m too tired. All they serve is gruel.” 

“Ugh yeah, then do you wanna hang out in your room?” 

“You can come along if you want. I just want to take a nap, so we might not be able to talk much.” 

Jaehee chuckled and understood completely. “I’ll meet you there after I grab some apple juices?” 

“Sure.” 

They temporarily parted ways as the older girl headed into the cafeteria with only one thing to do. After some bumping into more kids, she grabbed two cartons, then turned around to see Soojin. “Oh, hey unnie.”

“Hi. Wanna come hang out at the table with us?”

“Not today, sorry. Jihan and I are feeling too tired from work, so we’re gonna take lunch time to nap for now.”

“Yeah no of course, that’s fine. Are you feeling alright? I know the job is pretty boring.”

“It’s cool, I can manage.”

“By the way, have you seen Monday anywhere?” 

“Oh, no? I thought she was with you.”

“That’s odd. She’s been looking terrible for weeks.”

“I’ll see if I can go talk to her maybe? Monday unnie might need some company.”

“Y-yeah, I wish I could but Zoa and I still need to make the escape plan….” 

“Don’t worry too much. Do what you need to do.”

Jaehee patted Soojin’s shoulder before walking out and taking the elevator up to the Gold territory. Her room was conveniently across from Monday’s, therefore, they always stuck with each other when heading to the control panel room. Taking a deep breath, Jaehee approached closer and frowned when she noticed the entrance to Monday’s dorm was still open. She cautiously peeked inside out of fear of looking as though she was snooping around. But all of that worry was instantly thrown away when Jaehee saw the older girl sobbing. Without any hesitation, she rushed forward and immediately questioned what was wrong. But to no one's surprise, Monday didn’t really want to say anything, understandably so. Jaehee didn’t think further, instead just silently embraced the older girl to comfort. She thought back to when they introduced themselves for the first time while working at the control panels, Monday’s exact words rewinding again. 

That type of traumatic pain was simply unimaginable, much worse with her own parents’ betrayal. It seemed like they acted without hesitation, how could that even be possible? Due to this, Jaehee’s heart broke every time Monday was scolded by soldiers for, by their accusation, ‘slacking off’. She’d wanted to step up for the older girl, but was too scared of getting punished. Monday seemingly understood and at one point gestured for Jaehee to stay put. Despite it being quite admirable, the pain still hurt like hell. Adult figures these days were practically nonexistent and pretty soon, kids only had to rely on each other and themselves. The two stayed like that for a while, just hugging and letting all of the pain out. Monday leaned on Jaehee’s shoulder, closing her eyes.

“Thanks for this…I needed it.” 

“Of course. It’s what friends do, so no problem at all.” 

“……I just don’t know what I did for this to happen….”

“Hey…you didn’t do anything wrong.” Then she sighed with nothing else to comment. They didn’t realize how long they'd sat there until Jihan was searching around and stumbled in, visibly tired. But soon enough, she read the room. 

“Are you guys alright?” 

“Yeah. Just having a bad day.”

Jaehee simply answered as Jihan also kneeled down to embrace Monday, petting her head. All of them resorted to talking about other things for a distraction, which thankfully helped. They shared their own school stories and such, surprised about not knowing each other before now. Even more so when Jihan and Monday had Mr. Minseo for psychology. This went on for a while and soon, Soojin and Zoa found them fifteen minutes before lunch ended. The friend group went on and on about their own lives, meeting one another, etc. At some point, they had a short debate about the best ice cream flavor, game, social media apps, and more. Just casual things that brought some type of pleasing familiarity for once, and they wouldn’t want it any other way.

* * *

**Week four, day one.**

Night fell with soldiers rounding up kids for bed. There were lots of unnecessary shoving and pushing them forward, just to show off the ‘power’ they had over them. Clearly insecure about just having big guns to play with while everyone else literally manifested superpowers. Oh the irony. Friends from different territories wished each other goodnight before getting ragdolled away and into their dorms. On the other hand, Soeun simply walked past the crowd and without the soldiers laying their disgusting, bacteria infested hands on her. She reached the dorm and locked it behind before taking a quick shower. Afterwards, Soeun sat at the desk, momentarily thinking to herself. The risks of escaping were endless, so saying it was nerve wracking is an understatement. Compared to the hell they all dealt with here though? Not a chance. Minutes in, Soeun figured it’d be best for them to work together. Tearing out a small piece of tissue paper, she carefully wrote with a stolen pen. Then, with one small peek outside, the coast was clear. Soeun hastily navigated around before finding Zoa’s room at last and knocking, then slipped the note under, wasting no time to hurry back. 

Meanwhile, Zoa had just finished skimming pages filled with notes, scribbles, and drawings, being sure to bookmark any important finds while staying here. Pretty soon, she’d mapped out the entire layout of the camp, distinguishing between each location, thus making it easier to navigate around. Now Zoa just needed to lead the way through and then they’re outside where the electric fences were. Thankfully, Monday and Jaehee could easily disable them. After that they just needed to climb over, making the plan a success. She nodded and smiled after having everything planned. Now, she just had to wait for Soeun’s answer. Not even a minute later there was soft knocking at her door, and she turned around, noticing a small piece of paper sliding into the room. Surprised, Zoa grabbed it and read the message, then chuckled, feeling excited.

_ I’m in. _

_ P.S. sorry about the other day. _

Before anyone could see her, Soeun quickly slipped back into her room, locking it once more. She sighed in relief, taking a deep breath to calm down. Sleep was certainly needed now. Therefore, Soeun took off her slippers to crash in bed, wasting no more time in closing her eyes. Until ten minutes later, someone rudely banged on the door. Why did this have to happen every single time? Groaning, Soeun stomped forward, yanking it open and was about to make the person regret it, only for her to suddenly be shoved aside into the wall. She grew even angrier.

“Hey! The fuck are you do—”

“Please, just let me stay here! I’m in danger.”

“Cool story, now get the hell out of my room!”

“Please, please! Don’t turn me in, let me stay!” 

_ “I  _ would get in trouble too asshat! Leave already!”

“Sir! I hear something over there.”

Oh, for the love of god. Soeun didn’t have the chance to continue cussing this random girl out when she hid herself in her closet and was forced to deal with some ugly soldiers. Luckily, Soeun beat them to the door, not allowing them entry. “What do you two want?” 

“You have a minute to let us inside? A rogue escapee was last seen in this area so we’re obliged to search around.” 

“Well shoot, you’re not getting that privilege. Ever.” She didn’t let them continue before swiftly gripping their wrists and controlled their minds. “You saw  _ nothing. _ ”

They both immediately repeated. “We saw nothing….” 

“You’re gonna walk away like nothing happened.” Shortly after, the soldiers complied, leaving just Soeun standing there. Within seconds, she opened the closet and yanked the girl’s arm, causing her to fall onto the ground, groaning in pain as Soeun glared menacingly. “I won’t ask again.”


	7. Rogue

**Week four, day one.**

The interior became more claustrophobic as months carried on, nearly strangling what little hope remained. Everything was so white and futuristic, technology no one had even imagined yet. What stood out more were the soldiers wearing all black, their heavy equipment and weapons attached on waists to add to the intimidation. Though the same could be said for the kids. Aside from Jiyoon’s own red suit, she’d been using that gear since the first day they forced her to wear it, but from then on, Jiyoon was the military’s puppet. Any shred of humanity at this point was lost once they thought about experimenting on youth like her. There was even another girl who was about two years younger. Monsters. She kept the hope that one day they’ll bust out of this place and never look back. However, what could be done? Jiyoon could practically see Chaerin’s forlorn eyes, like the girl had already given up long ago. Even the other three who were stuck here.

Though thankfully, Jiyoon persisted and followed through with experiments to give herself some time to secretly find a way out. Due to the risk though, she had to have a Plan B. Where could Jiyoon go after leaving? Before being able to think any further, the barrier slid open, revealing the room she hated most. Those freaks just sitting outside and watching Jiyoon use her powers never felt right. To say she felt insecure was the understatement of the century. She didn’t realize how long she’d been frozen until a soldier rudely shoved her, then locked the door. Jiyoon was alone again. Excluding the stupid speaker, of course.

“Alright, Ms.Shin. Please stand at the side to get ready for experiment VI.” Oh yeah, it’d been six months already. She complied before waiting once more. “I will count down from five, you know what to do after that.”

Without another word, Jiyoon took a few deep breaths, preparing herself by facing the wall fifteen feet away. Inhaling, she waited for the cue, closing her eyes. The scientists would determine what would happen next depending on the result. In those very few seconds, Jiyoon thought about everything that’d angered her during the stay here, how they treated Chaerin, the others, and more shitty things. Then, immediately after one, Jiyoon’s cheeks glowed from the heat and her eyes shone bright red as she exhaled a scream that was masked from the sudden explosion as flames trailed all the way across, burning everything in its path before striking the wall. Greater than anything they’d ever seen. One of the elder scientists instantly got up from his seat upon witnessing something so magnificently horrifying and deadly. What a creep. Jiyoon stood there confused, having nothing to say besides backing towards the door. He began applauding after the experiment.

“That was amazing! This is exactly what we are looking for! Great job, Ms.Shin.” All that received was a small, nervous nod. “We’re done for now so let’s call it a day.” Soon, everyone piled out of the lab, heading back to their quarters while Jiyoon was locked back in her room. It was sealed off completely so she wouldn’t hear anything outside.

“Sir, she definitely has the power after all that training. We’ll have a huge advantage now.” 

“When this gets reported to the president, we might even get promoted.” The small group of science freaks chuckled amongst themselves until the eldest man stopped them. 

“Or…” he looked around to see if any soldiers were nearby, “this can only be between us, and nobody else…the president doesn’t need anymore power since there are four other Reds.” 

“But they and Jiyoon are the only Reds in the world, sir. What if he finds out?”

“Oranges like him are highly weak to the ultrasonic rings. If we’re able to get our hands on one of those guns, then nothing can stop us.” 

“Y-you’re right!”

“Shhh, quiet down. Now what do you all say?” Everyone agreed immediately, nodding along. “Great. Now there must be a way for us to stow away Shin Jiyoon without getting caught, so let’s start with a plan tonight.”

“Huh? Isn’t that a little too soon, sir?” 

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time.”

With that being said, they too left the area and headed back up to the surface through elevators. After quickly finishing with today’s experiment, the girl herself was now dressed in her red prison suit, merely laying in bed and dozing off. There was much to think about. Being stuck here for months worked in Jiyoon’s favor as places were now easier to locate, thus it didn’t take long for her to find the exit. The only way out of this hell hole. She questioned whether tomorrow would be safe enough to possibly escape. But obviously, Jiyoon couldn’t do it alone. When Chaerin finally walked out of the bathroom, they both sat down together, thoroughly finding loopholes and such without causing too much trouble. After seven hours, the girls decided to get some rest, eagerly waiting for tomorrow night when everyone is caught off guard. At least that was their hope. Unbeknownst to them while sleeping, the door’s clicked and opened. There came two scientists tiptoeing in, trying hard to remain silent. One tapped on Jiyoon’s shoulder, waking her up as she narrowed her eyes.

“Hm? Who—” They hastily shushed before scanning the area, then sighed in relief when there was no one around. 

“It’s ok. We just need you to come with us.” Jiyoon didn’t even ask them what they wanted yet.

“Why are you here?”

“We’re getting you out.”

Wait. What? This sounded a little too good to be true. “Wh—how?”

“Hurry up and put on your gear before time runs out. We must be there soon.”

“Can my friend come with us?” 

“No. Only you. Now hurry up.”

An immediate red flag. Despite being suspicious, Jiyoon still did so anyways, but while the scientists weren’t looking, she shook Chaerin awake and told her to follow quietly. When everything was secured, they led Jiyoon out of the room and were thankfully dumb enough to not lock the door behind. Hallways remained darked, but flashlights guided them along. She’d never been to this side of the underground lab, thus didn’t know what to expect ahead. Jiyoon subtly looked behind, relieved when Chaerin was carefully following close behind. The younger girl flashed a thumbs-up and she would’ve smiled at this if their situation wasn’t so serious. Before Jiyoon knew, they were now in a room full of equipment and other sorts of things. She saw an elderly man standing at the center behind a counter, looking at some enormous map.

“Welcome, Shin Jiyoon. Please explore around.” 

“Uh…what do you want with me?” 

“Don’t fret. It’s only something small. If you work with us, you’ll be free from here.”

“And what exactly do I help you with?” He didn’t have to hesitate for long when his phone suddenly vibrated with a call. 

“I’ll get right back to you on that. When I’m finished, I’ll answer your questions.” Without another word, the man had one of the other scientists to stay behind and look after Jiyoon as he left. After a minute of simply looking at stuff, she heard something drop and hastily turned around. Chaerin stood over the scientist’s unconscious body, a wrench in her hand. 

“Wow, you really have some stealth there.” 

“I always did that to skip school and hang out with my friends at the alleyways.”

They both giggled quietly before looking around. “They really spent lots of money on this stuff. No wonder our economy is suffering inflation.” 

Chaerin scoffed and agreed while scanning the walls full of highly advanced gadgets. Then something in particular caught her eye. She shook Jiyoon’s arm to grab her attention. “Dude, look.” 

“What?” Before them were special looking earplugs, its description simply summarized the ability to silence out the ultrasound rings, preventing anyone who wore these to hear them. The girls gasped before grabbing dozens, chuckling as Jiyoon safely pocketed the items. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here before they come back.” Chaerin informed while shoving the knocked out scientist into a locker and shutting it. At that moment, the rest of the people came back into the room. Startled, Jiyoon looked over her shoulders and thankfully Chaerin was already hiding. 

“We should get going now, Ms.Shin. Our ride is waiting.”

“Where are we going?”

“A place where the military won’t be able to find us.”

“Hm…you still need to answer my question.”

“What question?” Obviously playing dumb. 

“What do you need my help with?” She narrowed her eyes at him, waiting. Sighing, the elderly scientist finally ‘answered’. 

“Your capability far exceeds any of the other Reds in this vicinity. Therefore, you’re a very valuable child. The military wouldn’t give you up for anything. Especially the leader, Clancy Grey.”

Jiyoon frowned. “And who is that?” 

“You don’t want to know.”

“Right, as if I could trust you all either. I’m tired of being people’s puppet to play with and I want to leave.”

“And you will! We are your chance of freedom if you come with us.” 

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you.”

He remained silent after that, as if knowing this was going to be the case. But Jiyoon didn’t really have a choice. The old man held a tranquilizer behind his back, unbeknownst to Jiyoon. Right before he was about to fire a dart, Chaerin unleashed her fiery energy, instantly setting the whole place on fire. All of the scientists were engulfed in the flames, screaming in pain while trying to escape. Jiyoon quickly grabbed Chaerin the elbow, leading them further away before the soldiers could find them. Loud alarms blared and woke everyone as numerous yellings roared throughout, surprisingly even more boisterous. Everytime soldiers would run by, they’d immediately hide behind walls before sprinting once more. The girls didn’t stop running as Jiyoon took many turns to find the exit, which thankfully didn’t take long. Standing back together, both of them exhaled a fierce wall of fire at the barricade and a huge opening formed. However, the commotion lured attention from soldiers, who soon discovered the girls.

“There they are!!”

Jiyoon frantically held Chaerin’s hand, but she stayed still in her spot. “Let’s go! We can escape!” 

“No…you have to leave. I’ll hold them off.”

“But you won’t make it in time!” She still didn’t want to release her friend’s hand.

Chaerin didn’t say anything else before pushing the older girl away, then ran back to breath out a trail of fire, burning the soldiers running towards her. Jiyoon could only watch from afar, wanting desperately to go back and help. But the elevator was also just a few feet away. She heard Chaerin’s voice echoing, yelling at her to escape now while there was still a chance. Tears glossed over her eyes, Jiyoon didn’t have a choice anymore. As the elevator began upwards towards the service, she caught one last glimpse of Chaerin being knocked out by a machine gun and dragged away. She couldn’t imagine what would happen next, hoping the younger girl would remain alive after this chaos. When the doors opened, Jiyoon was back in the prison’s hallways, shakily walking out. It wasn’t safe to stay here longer, thus she had to hide somewhere. Jiyoon took off her boots so then it wouldn’t be noisy before running off again. The thought of entering Green’s section went by too fast, only because she was desperate. It’d just been bedtime for everyone right after finishing work. Having no other options, she randomly stopped at one door, knocking on it so someone could let her in. Seconds later, a girl came out looking annoyed and was about to cuss at Jiyoon but she immediately barged inside without any hesitations, not forgetting to shut the entrance behind.

“Hey! The fuck are you do—”

“Please, just let me stay here! I’m in danger.”

“Cool story, now get the hell out of my room!” She forcibly tugged on Jiyoon’s arm, but the girl continued pulling back. 

“Please, please! Don’t turn me in, let me stay!” 

“I would get in trouble, too, asshat! Leave already!”

“Sir! I hear something over there.”

They both immediately stopped at some soldier’s voice. Pushing the other girl aside, Jiyoon booked for the closet, shutting it close and hiding inside. Then, she waited anxiously and hoped that the stranger would miraculously be able to lure the soldiers away. She was a Green after all, right? Jiyoon picked up some muffled voices, exchanging a short conversation until it seemingly ended. Suddenly, she was then coercively pulled out from the closet and landed harshly as the girl glared at her, having only one thing to say.

“I won’t ask again.” 

“Please, just listen to me. I only need a place to stay.”

“You can stay somewhere else.” She was about to grab Jiyoon by the arm again, but not after a quick dodge.

“I beg you! Please. I can’t go back. They’ll never let me go after this!”

“Where the hell did you even come from??”

“An underground lab. They built to experiment with kids like me.”

The girl only grew more confused. “Why?” 

Well shit. “B-because,” here goes nothing, “…because I’m a Red.” 

Then a brief moment of silence. Now nervous, she shook her head. “Yeah, no, get out.”

“No wait! I promise I won’t cause you any trouble, I swear!” 

“Just you being here is troubling enough!” The girl tugged Jiyoon by the shoulders, desperately trying to force her out. 

“Please! I’ll do anything! Just let me stay!” She clung tightly onto her leg like a koala, not letting go whatsoever. 

“Ugh! Fine!” 

“Yaaaaay~”

Jiyoon’s joy was an abrupt one. “But you leave tomorrow morning.”

“Awwww, can’t I stay longer??”

“No.”

“Please? At least until I find somewhere to stay.” 

The girl rubbed her temples, already feeling a slight headache dealing with this before taking one look at Jiyoon. “…you’re sleeping on the ground.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Fair enough.” But before she laid down, there was one more request. “Do you have any more of your green suits? This gear is a bit uncomfortable to sleep in.” The girl reluctantly nodded as Jiyoon quickly changed and soon plopped on the floor with a smile. “I promise, I’ll make it up to you someday!” 

“Whatever….” Then the lights were turned off. 

“Say, what’s your name? I’m Jiyoon.”

“Soeun.”

“Oh! You’re the girl I bumped into before I got taken to this place. What a coincidence we end up in the same camp.”

“Huh?

“You know, you’re known in the school for always skipping class? Attendance rate basically nonexistent?” 

“That’s no one’s business.”

“So what do you do if you’re not in school?” 

Didn’t Soeun just tell her to mind her own business? “Nothing.” 

“Oh. I thought you’d do something cool.” 

“Can you sleep now, please? Or do I have to make you?” She threatened while balling up her fist but Jiyoon seemed to have not received the hint. 

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m not really tired.” Soeun stayed quiet for a while after that, having nothing else to reply with, thus shutting her eyes once more. Only to be rudely interrupted minutes later. “By the way, how did you lure those soldiers away from your dorm? After I hid in your closet?”

“I asked them to leave.”

“Just ask them?? And they listened?” 

“Yep.”

“Wow, do they always listen to Greens?” 

“I guess.” Jiyoon pouted at the vague answer, though chose not to ask anymore questions. However, Soeun’s grew curious as well, despite being tired. “This underground thing you were talking about…what’s it for?”

“Ugh, for experiments. Since I’m a Red, they’re using me as a weapon for the military. I’m basically their puppet.” 

“Oh. So what do you do?”

“Just show them my powers, how strong I am.” 

“How did you escape?” 

“Kind of complicated…I was planning to leave with my friend, but she risked her own life to save me. So, I wouldn’t be here without her.” Jiyoon’s mood quickly dimmed remembering that event just an hour ago. 

“Who’s your friend?” 

“Chaerin.” 

“Wait, what?” 

“Hm?” 

“Last name?” 

“Park.”

“She’s—she’s my friend, too.” Soeun then sat up, with Jiyoon reflecting her shock. 

“Seriously??” 

“Yeah. Chaerin’s been a Red this whole time?” Asking particularly no one. “What happened to her?” 

“I-I don’t know…I last saw her fighting the soldiers….” 

“….”

“I’m sorry, I really tried to go back, but….”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “It is what it is then.”

Jiyoon didn’t say anything else, before turning on the side towards the wall. If there was any way to go back and rescue Chaerin, Soeun definitely would. But if Jiyoon had been able to leave this underground base, then those people would very likely install more strict security measures than ever by now. She couldn't imagine what happened to Chaerin after that whole thing. Therefore, the likelihood of not getting caught was basically impossible. They both hated to admit this, but there was no going back whatsoever. If that was Chaerin’s decision, then Jiyoon will live on so the sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain. Eventually, the two girls finally fell asleep. The last thing Soeun thought about was whether or not she should introduce her to everyone. God knows how they’ll react after finding out Jiyoon was a Red. After all, her place on the danger level chart was debatable because hell, she might even be more powerful than Soeun.

At some point in the night, Jiyoon had found the hard ground uncomfortable and proceeded to squeeze herself a spot in the other girl’s one-person bed. Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice this while being in a deep slumber, until the next morning. Soeun groaned in pain, hissing when she massaged her shoulder and saw a nasty bruise. Before realizing it, she ended up falling onto the floor after Jiyoon unknowingly pushed her off her own bed. Soeun glared before yanking the pillow away and smacking the snoring girl with it. Jiyoon was immediately startled awake, questioning what on earth happened. Rolling her eyes, Soeun didn’t bother answering before entering the bathroom, locking it. Not much was said between them while they freshened up, but didn’t exit the room just yet.

“Wait. Before we go, you need to disguise yourself as a Green.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m in the suit already, aren’t I?”

“I meant, literally act like one. You know, smart and stuff?” 

“Oooooh, gotcha! Don’t worry, I’ll keep it cool.” She flashed two thumbs up as Soeun slowly nodded, hoping that meant what she thought it meant.

Jiyoon was informed about some escape plan that a friend group Soeun knew had been plotting for a while, immediately becoming intrigued by it. She didn’t know much of the details that the girls had come up with, but made sure to ask Zoa about it soon. Now all they had to do was reach the cafeteria and find them. Thankfully, there were way too many Greens for the soldiers to care who was who, thus, Jiyoon slipped in without them sparing her a second glance because of the suit. On one occasion, however, Soeun thought they were going to get spotted when she randomly started chatting with the cafeteria ladies, quizzing them to some riddle that they didn’t have time to think about as she hastily pulled the dork away to scold her. Jiyoon’s excuse was to make it seem like she was smart like a Green, literally. Soeun could only face palmed herself before grabbing a bowl for the gruel and some apple juice, shoving a carton in the older girl’s hand. Next objective: find the girls.

* * *

Morning went on like always; work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep. Shouldn’t have been something to get used to, but here they were: building machine guns again. Though, on the bright side, this definitely benefited Zoa. For instance, she now had an idea of how to build a small variety of weapons besides machine guns. The blueprint for it was quite similar with other ones, so maybe one day, she’ll be able to craft and build more. When the bell rang for lunch she quickly left for the cafeteria, meeting up with everyone else. Thankfully, Jihan and Jaehee were able to join this time. Soon, the girls gathered at a table, talking about their days like usual. Over these past few months, they’d grown closer than ever, sticking together and being there to listen whenever someone needed to vent. Soojin served as the glue of the group and never left anyone out of the discussion. Everyone played a part to craft the ‘perfect’ escape plan, each girl giving her own ideas. Zoa made sure to jot everything down in her notebook, which was running out of pages at this point.

“Alright, so let’s go over this again. Monday and Jaehee are in charge of shorting out the CCTVs in the camera room, Soojin and Jihan will knock out any soldiers guarding that area. Then, we’ll climb through the vents, but be really careful and quiet because they make lots of noise in one bump. I can lead the rest of the way.”

Soojin nodded, smiling. “Got it. Should we bring Soeun along?”

Zoa smirked before taking out a small piece of paper. “Yep, she’s in. I’ll check later and inform her about the escape tonight.” She almost giggled when her sister looked visibly relieved. “We’ll occasionally let Soeun unnie use her powers whenever we need to, since there may be too much for her to mind control more than one person.” Zoa pondered on for a bit more before concluding. “And because that kind of ability might corrupt more than she already is.”

“I mean, it’s been months, so probably.” Monday added, but Soojin shook her head.

“I’m sure she didn’t have to use it that much.”

Jaehee quickly raised her hand. “By the way, about the camera thing, wouldn’t that alert other soldiers? Because that might be noisy, too.” 

“Don’t worry, they put the alarm near that place so I’ll be able to disable it with some tools I stole. Perks of building machine guns all day, everyday.” 

Everyone nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Nice,” Monday giggled, “also, are we sticking together after this? If we’re able to escape?” The girls were taken aback, having not thought of this yet.

“I want to go back home where Jihan and I live. Our parents are waiting for us, so you guys can come along if you want?” 

“Oh…we were thinking about going to our house, too. We didn’t get to see ours before we got taken away.” Soojin replied, but they nodded understandingly. 

“Well, wherever you guys go, I’ll come along. I don’t know any other places to call home.” 

Zoa nodded before closing her notebook. “Welp, then it’s settled. I’ll tell Soeun unnie about tonight.” Right after saying that, she was startled by a hand gripping her shoulder. Zoa sighed in utter relief when it was just the girl herself. “Geez, you scared me.”

“Sorry. I was looking for you.” 

“Oh, we all just finished reviewing the plan. Come have a seat!” Soojin offered a spot right next to her as Soeun sat down, along with Jiyoon. Her new presence confused everyone. 

“Uh, hey?” Jihan waved at her. 

“Hi! Sorry for the informal introduction but my name is Shin Jiyoon. You can simply call me Jiyoon. I like doing math, riddles, tests, etc.” She smiled enthusiastically while unexpectedly shaking the younger girl’s hand. 

Soeun did her best not to groan so loudly out of frustration, but thankfully enough, she got along with everyone sitting at the table. “So what’s your power?” Monday curiously asked as Jiyoon raised an eyebrow. 

“I—I’m a Green, see? I-it’s right here, the suit.”

“Hm…you don’t act like one.”

“Whaaat? What do you mean? Of course, I’m one!” She tried to dismiss it, but her obvious nervousness basically gave it away. 

Zoa slowly nodded, feeling suspicious. “Right. So what’s really your power?” 

Jiyoon remained silent after that and not-so-subtly turned to Soeun. “Is my acting really that bad?” Whispering. 

“It’s fucking terrible.” She deadpanned, making Soojin chuckle a bit. 

“Whatever it is, you can tell us. We don’t bite.” Monday quickly reassured her. 

Then, after a deep breath. “I’m…I’m a Red.”

Instantly, Jihan choked on her orange juice as Jaehee patted her back while everyone else gasped. It was a miracle the soldiers didn’t notice. “A Red?!” Zoa’s eyes widened. 

“Like—the fire breathing one??” Jiyoon hesitantly nodded at the question from Monday.

“That’s so cool!” Soojin merely applauded, pleasantly surprised and delighted at how diverse this group was. The younger girl visibly sighed in relief at this. 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait….” Zoa hastily silenced everyone. “How are you still alive? They didn’t…you know.”

“Didn’t what?” 

“…kill you on the spot?” Tensions immediately grew upon that realization as Jaehee was next to add on.

“That’s what they do to anyone who’s Orange.” Then they all slyly shifted their attention to Soeun, who simply sipped her apple juice carton. 

“Oh…u-um…long story, I suppose.”

Jiyoon filled them in on her experiences with this ‘camp’. The group was rightfully shocked about the underground experimentation lab, horrified that the military could possibly get worse than they already were. Everyone listened to every detail intently, what Jiyoon had been through, the other Reds, Chaerin, the scientists and more. They could only sympathize, expressing utmost concerns, which made her feel welcomed and fully understood for once. As expected, the girls wanted to go back and save Chaerin, but Soeun argued about how extremely dangerous it was. Truthfully, she had a point, thus, that idea was gone as quickly as it came. Soon, they all started sharing their own stories about the camp, some good, mostly bad, obviously. When Jiyoon found out about Soeun being Orange, her eyes almost popped out. But she wasn’t too surprised because it made sense. Eventually, they all moved onto the next topic about their escape plan. Jiyoon paid very close attention to every detail while looking through Zoa’s notebook, astonished seeing numerous pages completely filled. She smiled and nodded, discussing things out with everyone as they filled in on each of their objectives.

“This is absolutely perfect!”

“Yep. So then we’ll all split up once we reach this area and then Blues and Golds will do their thing. You guys can follow me to the control panels where I disable the alarm.”

“Gotcha! Oh. One more thing. I have these earpieces that nullify the ultrasonic sounds those soldiers use on us.” Jiyoon took some out of her pockets.

“Wh—you had these the whole time and you didn’t tell me?? I would’ve let you stay last night.” 

“I didn’t think about these until now.” 

“Wait.” Jihan quickly stopped her. “How do you know for sure they work?” 

“When I was escaping, the scientists took me into their gadget room and the sign for the earplugs said they could do that.”

“Wait. So are they earpieces or earplugs?” Zoa questioned. 

“Both. We can also communicate with these, too, apparently.”

“Oh, we can test these tonight and see if they actually work.” Soojin suggested, earning agreements all around. 

“All right. Now that that’s our plan, be sure to check the time at midnight.” The last thing Zoa said right before the bell rang for everyone to resume work. It was all the girls could anticipate for the rest of the day.


	8. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick warning: this chapter is going to be a bit more violent with some details of broken bones and a very minor character death.

Crickets chirped loudly through the night, scurrying away when prison lights shined on them every time it moved by. Soldiers guarding around the outside premises grew tired and cold from the fall season, wanting nothing more than a simple hot chocolate. In their dreams, maybe. The last bell signaled the end of labor as kids reentered their dorms like always, being used to getting shoved left and right. Even after half a year of rather solid behavior, that didn’t seem to be enough for the insecure, knuckle headed soldiers. The bedtime routine carried on like usual, or at least it seemed so. Tonight something massive was going down. Jiyoon stayed in Soeun’s dorm right before lunch had ended today, thus evaded inspection by the soldiers when they counted everyone going to bed. As Zoa had advised, everyone had to keep watch for the time.

Soon midnight fell and she unlocked her bedroom door by picking at it with a paperclip, slipping it out with Soojin’s backpack. Zoa’s dorm was located on the furthest side of the hallways, so the security cameras couldn’t see her. For a prison, they should’ve invested more in proper angles, better yet just get rotating cameras. Zoa tiptoed towards the edge of the wall, looking down another hallway, the coast still clear. Some wires caught her attention, which lead up to cameras. Smiling, she unscrewed the back of a small fuze box, tampering with the mechanics and pulling plugs, which temporarily disabled them. This was the cue for everyone to get out while they still could. When that time came, Soeun immediately unlocked her door with a spare key that she “received” from a soldier on day one, with Jiyoon close behind. Meanwhile, Soojin and Jihan forced their doorknobs open, breaking apart the lock internally before going upstairs together to fetch both Jaehee and Monday. Afterwards, all four of them wished good luck to each other, separating to finish their parts of the plan. 

Soojin snuck up behind two oblivious soldiers, before telekinetically cracking their heads into the wall. Afterwards, Jihan helped hide their unconscious bodies then continued on. It didn’t take long until the hallway was thoroughly cleansed of guards, allowing Monday and Jaehee to enter the camera room, which was surprisingly unlocked. Without wasting any more time, they placed their hands on the monitor, overloading the system and disabling the CCTVs for good. Once all the screens read “error”, the girls smiled and high fived each other. Monday gave Zoa the cue, leading her, Soeun, and Jiyoon towards a particular control panel room where the alarm was located. In the meantime, Soojin and Jihan had unfortunately forgotten one hallway that was still guarded. Upon arriving there, they immediately alerted the soldiers.

“Hey! What are you two doing down here?!” One barked loudly, causing the two to flinch as Jihan hid behind Soojin as the older girl tried explaining. 

“Listen, do any of you know where the nearest bathroom is? Whatever they’re feeding us is not agreeing with my bow—” 

To no avail. “You should be in bed!”

With no other choices, their eyes turned bright blue as they began their attack. Two soldiers fell to the ground, muffled screams escaping their helmets as they looked at their now broken legs. That still left about five more. Soojin then used large lockers, throwing some at the remaining soldiers, breaking one’s collar bone while the rest evaded in time. They all hastily equipped their machine guns, firing real bullets this time. Soojin grabbed the younger girl closer to her side and moved another locker as a shield. Once they had to reload, Jihan decided to return the favor by directing her hands at them. The soldiers halted in their tracks upon hearing a rumbling noise that gradually grew louder and soon, chunks of the wall went hurtling towards the soldiers. They all screamed in pain before retreating to get away, which allowed Soojin to throw the locker, knocking them out. The two chuckled, relieved it was finally over...or so they thought.

“Come on, we should get going.” The older girl said as Jihan nodded. However just as they turned the corner, a soldier lying in wait ambushed them by shoving them to the ground. 

“Don’t move or you’ll regret it!!” He barked loudly and pointed his pistol directly at Jihan, who yelped in fear. 

“No! She’s just a kid!” Soojin instinctively got in between. “Keep your gun on me.” 

“Aren’t you tough?” He smirked as she glared back. 

“Just let her go and take me instead.” 

“U-unnie—” Jihan wanted to protest but Soojin wasn’t having it. She felt rather disgusted by the soldier’s actions since he didn’t even hesitate with threatening a whole child. Soojin would rather risk her own life than let that happen. 

“Sorry. I don’t take orders from some bitch.”

Jihan closed her eyes shut and tightly gripped onto the older girl’s suit, waiting for it to happen. Soojin gulped and said one last loving message to Zoa and the rest of their friends. If this was going to be their end, at least they did a noble thing. Then, at that moment, the pistol dropped which prompted the two girls to open their eyes, confused when the soldier suddenly looked empty, his mouth slightly agape. Soojin and Jihan looked to the side and saw Soeun’s bright orange eyes, utterly relieved to see her. But without wasting the opportunity, Soojin knocked him out with a hard push to the wall, shattering his jaw. Shortly after, Zoa and Jiyoon came rushing towards them, concerned by the commotion.

“Hey! Are you guys alright??” The youngest asked. 

“Don’t worry, we’re fine. T-thanks to Soeun.” Soojin answered while slightly smiling. 

“He almost shot us….” Jihan was still shaken up by the near death experience just now. The rest comforted her. 

“Yeah…but it’s ok, we lived.” 

“We’ll be out of here soon.” Zoa petted her head before looking around. “Let’s get out of here, that guy might’ve already called for reinforcements before Soojin unnie knocked him out. The room is just ahead.”

Without wasting any more time, they rushed further down into the hallway before hurrying inside. It was an enormous area that could fit about fifty people inside, with the control panel stretching the diameter of the room. Zoa found the alarm button, which was obvious considering its design. While everyone guarded the door, she worked on cutting through wires and disabling functions. In the middle of this, they decided some small talk might help pass the time. Well, maybe this wasn’t exactly the best place to do that, but what else could be done? Soeun leaned against the wall, crossing her arms as she waited for Zoa to finish. Soojin asked if she was feeling alright, to which Soeun simply nodded. The younger girl was surprised that a stranger would be genuinely concerned for her to that extent. Soojin then nervously shifted in her chair and wondered if that question was a bit too far. Jiyoon, on the other hand, was more worried about guarding the door and constantly looked out the door’s small window, which didn’t provide much of a view. Growing more anxious by the second, she just remembered something.

“Hey guys, where’s Monday and Jaehee?”

They were…utterly lost in the prison’s maze and now cluelessly wandering down the hallways, as lost as a blind man in an open field. Monday had tried contacting Zoa to ask directions but the earpieces stopped working a few minutes back. Quite an inconvenient scenario at the moment. So now it was just up to them to figure what to do next. She’d previously suggested they try asking their fellow Gold friends for help, which didn’t work as everyone was basically fast asleep at this point, therefore, no one answered the doors when they knocked. Along the way while hiding in empty rooms and such, they had to electrocute some wandering guards before continuing on. But pretty soon, the two girls didn’t have anywhere else to go and were now stuck in some office room, trying to figure out why their earpieces went haywire out of nowhere. Monday and Jaehee could only hope it could still nullify the ultrasonic sound at least.

“Do you think it could be some connection problems?” The younger girl asked while looking at it. 

“Probably, but that’s weird. They were working fine earlier.” 

“I guess it’s because we got lost somehow….”

“There has to be a way somewhere.” Monday gave up investigating her earpiece before scanning their area. “Hm…let’s run through the plan again. So Zoa is going to disable the prison’s alarm, Soojin and Jihan get rid of the guards...what else?” 

“Uh, I think after Zoa finishes that, she leads us through the vents?” 

Bingo. “That’s it! Let’s go into the vents.” She quickly stood up but Jaehee still remained hesitant. 

“But—how will we know where to go?”

“It’s better than being vulnerable out here and getting caught. Come on, at least we have _some_ place to hide.”

“A-alright, that’s a good point…we have to be really quiet though, the vents can easily attract noise.” They both soon found a chair to boost themselves up towards the vent, prying its barrier off before climbing through, though not forgetting to close it behind them. “I’m still not sure if this is a good idea.” Jaehee nervously whispered. 

“No worries. There’s going to be more vent gables for us to look through.” 

“Ok, I’ll be right behind you.” 

“It’s surprisingly very spacious, too.”

That being said, the two carefully crawled on, now in search of their friends. On the other hand, however, everyone else was looking for Monday and Jaehee right after Zoa finished with her work. They all checked every room they come across, just in case the two might be hiding inside. Jihan was especially anxious because her best friend could potentially be in serious danger and went unbeknownst. Soojin and Zoa were quick to reassure, rationalizing that she and Monday were smart enough to hide in some place where no one could find them. They all had tried to use their earpieces to contact them, which were only meant with complete silence. It was quite dangerous for the group to be running around in the open like this, but they weren’t just going to leave without their friends. Though, eventually, the reinforcements finally arrived, eager to put an end to this. The soldiers had quickly gotten word of an escape, thus were instantly dispatched. Jiyoon heard footsteps coming from a hallway she was standing in and hastily ran back to the group.

“G-guys! Reinforcements. We need to get the hell out of here, _now!”_ Soeun frowned before grabbing Soojin and Jihan’s elbows. 

“This way.” She led them through numerous turns, panting as everyone tried to keep up until they barged into some lab office. Immediately after, the girls barricaded the door. 

“Ok, now we’re about…a mile away from the outside.” 

“Damn…there might be another door around here?” Jiyoon tried peeking through the dark. 

“Is there a way to get some lighting in here?” Soojin asked while squinting. Before they realized it, someone else was in the room with them. In the distance, Zoa caught a glimpse of a figure coming towards them. 

“We’re not alone.” 

“What do you mean?” Soeun quickly got her answer when a scientist flipped a lamp on, even more surprised when he was standing on a table for whatever reason. 

Just when they were about to use their powers and apprehend him, he quickly stopped the girls by brandishing a handgun. “Don’t. I’m just here to talk.” 

Jiyoon gasped, recognizing the elderly man. “Y-you're….”

“That’s right, Shin Jiyoon. That wasn’t kind of you to just run away from us like that.”

“How are you still…?”

“I escaped before the whole underground lab burned down and everyone was evacuated. I’m impressed you made some new friends already in your little escape.” She glared menacingly at him, wanting nothing more than to burn that idiot to ashes. Just then, Soeun’s voice echoed in her head.

_Who is this guy?_

_He’s one of those scientists who experimented on me. A grave asshole, as you can see. Can you get into his mind?_

_I’m trying, but there’s something blocking me._

“What do you want with us?” Zoa asked, to which he smirked. 

“I just want Shin Jiyoon. All four of you can exit out in that door over there and continue your lives.” Then he went on and on, and on, about random stuff anyone could care less about.

Soeun groaned under her breath, feeling frustrated. Even after pushing one thought away another kept popping up. There had to be some ways to distract him, otherwise, they’ll just stand here until he puts a bullet through one of them. But thankfully, he kept rambling on about his works and how much more he can become successful in the military. That was pretty much all he could think of for his old brain. Jiyoon looked desperate to get out of this situation because she really didn’t want to go anywhere with this weird man and his goons. The girls weren’t going to let that happen of course, so now they were all mindfully conversing with Soeun. Their plan was Soojin would subtly use telekinesis and cause some noise in the distance to grab his attention long enough for Soeun to get into his mind. 

But by the miracles, Monday and Jaehee had just crawled into the same room they were in after hearing some noise. Upon reaching another vent gable, both peeked through and saw some old man ranting. Then they looked at each other, bewildered and wondered how long he’d been doing that. But what was very alarming was his hand gun pointing at something. Or someone. Jaehee gasped quietly, whispering that it might be the girls. The older girl agreed before prying off the vent’s gable as quietly as possible, before setting it aside. Back to the group, they were just anticipating Soojin's part when a hand slowly reached down towards the oblivious scientist’s head. Trailing their eyes upward, everyone noticed the Gold suit, before subtly sighing in relief. It was Monday. However, at that moment, he just finished long overdue speech and unclicked the safety trigger from the handgun.

“So. You’re all not going to give her up, huh?” 

“Like hell, we are.” Soojin returned the glare. 

He sighed. “I’d hate to have to do this, but you leave me no choice.” 

Instead of fearing for the worst, Soeun smirked at him. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to do anything.” Her eyes then turned bright orange, finally able to manipulate his mind, thus stopping all of his movements entirely.

Right then and there, Monday saw her chance and gripped onto the old man’s head, electrocuting him to the max. His skin pretty much turned charcoal before falling forward, Jihan catching the corpse before it could hit the ground. “That was awesome.” She giggled as Jaehee looked down from the vents. 

“Guys! Up here.” 

“Jaehee~!”

“Shhhh, hi Jihannie!” She whispered back. 

“We were looking for you guys.” Zoa chuckled while peering up at her friends. 

“Sorry, Jaehee and I got lost while trying to look for you, too. We tried using the earpieces but they stopped working.” 

Jiyoon frowned, scratching her head in confusion. “Really? They were pretty new when I grabbed them.” 

“Whatever, we need to leave now.” Soeun suggested as they all nodded.

“Right. Can you guys get us up there?” Monday nodded before asking a very important question. 

"By the way, you have any handsanitizers?" Zoa giggled before offering some.

The older girl then reached down to grab her hand, speedily dragging her up into the vent, followed by everyone else. Afterwards, Zoa navigated the whole way through, constantly looking at the notebook to check. Jihan and Jaehee were side by side, Monday and Jiyoon were getting to know each other more, while Soojin and Soeun remained silent in the back. The older girl occasionally looked to the side, but always saw her looking stoic and void of emotions. On some occasions, Jiyoon would crack some jokes just to lighten up their moods a little, which made everyone laugh, except her. Soojin wondered, though she didn’t want to seem invasive for thinking about it too much. When Zoa informed they were close to the outside, which had them all silently anticipating. Aside from that, the girls whispered amongst themselves to pass time and Soojin took this opportunity as well.

“What are your hobbies?” 

Soeun took one slightly surprised glance before facing forward again. “Handball.” 

“Ooh, I like playing that, too. I’m not too good with sports.” 

“I see.”

“Did you play any at school?” 

“Nope. I don’t go there often.” 

“Oh. Right.” Soojin just realized and nearly facepalmed herself. “How come you don’t go to school often?” 

“I don’t like it.” 

“Why don’t you like it?”

“It’s too boring and a waste of time.” 

“Ah…I get that.” Somewhat. “Do you have any dream jobs you want to do?” 

“Boxing.”

She deadpanned as Soojin was taken aback. “B-boxing?? You know how to do that?” 

“Yeah. It’s just beating the shit out of people.”

“You could say that….” Then the next question. “What else do you do?” 

“Hang out with friends.” 

“Yeah. I miss my friends before all of this. I’m still wondering where they are now.” 

Soeun nodded, knowing that feeling. “I'm seen two of my friends get caught. But I never saw them in this camp.” 

“Oh…maybe they’re at a different one? Zoa said this wasn’t the only place they locked up kids.” 

“Hm. Who knows?” 

“I’m sure they’re safe.” 

“I hope so.” There was a brief awkward silence that thankfully didn’t last long when the group stopped in front of another vent gable. Jihan pried it open before setting it down softly and quietly. 

“It’s…fresh air.” She took a deep breath and sighed. Everyone gazed at the night before them, although a fence stood tall and blocked them from actually going more than ten feet away. One by one, the girls jumped down and helped each other before looking around. 

“Well. This is it.” Zoa placed her notebook in the backpack, then zipped it up. “Now let’s bust out.” She smiled while holding some large pliers. 

Monday raised an eyebrow. “Got that from work?”

“Yep. Kept it since the first day.”

Then without wasting any more time, she quickly snipped away at the edges as fast as possible. Jiyoon stayed close by Zoa’s side in case she needed any help with it, while everyone else guarded to make sure there weren’t any unsuspecting soldiers nearby. Occasionally, they’d stretch their limbs after being crawling through the vents for about twenty minutes. At one point, Jiyoon assisted Zoa to add more pressure until the wire finally snapped. The loud sound startled everyone, but thankfully, no guards seemed to have heard. She continued on and was just about halfway done. Sighing, Jiyoon looked up at the fence and saw a string that stretched all the way across, going left and right. It served as an odd addition, but since it was in the way, Jiyoon pulled, tearing the thing off. To the girls’ horror, it set off an extremely loud alarm and their entire area turned red. Soeun immediately grabbed her by the collar, shouting.

“What the hell did you do?!”

“I-I didn’t do anything!!” 

“Zoa! I thought you said you disabled the alarm!” Jaehee frantically shouted. 

“I did! That’s the one that usually sets off when something goes wrong!”

“Then what the _fuck_ is this?!?” Monday screamed at the top of her lungs. 

“I—I don’t know! I didn’t know they had another one here!” But Soojin wasn’t going to stick around for them to get caught.

“Oh for christ’s sake, we have to run! _NOW!”_ Before they could even move, the whole spotlight shined on them.


	9. Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW// there's going to be lots of violence and death in this chapter so feel free to skip since it's short anyways.

The alarm roared, waking everyone from their slumber while flashing its ominous red lights all around the camp. Soldiers piled out from the exit, frantically looking around to see what on earth was going on. But they weren’t the only ones to leave. All of the kids themselves sought this opportunity to break out of their own dorms, seeing that this was clearly distracting the soldiers. Blues helped break out Golds and Greens, then everyone ran down the stairs and knocked out any guards that tried to poorly intervene. None of them stood a chance against an entire mob of teens and kids with superpowers. Meanwhile, the girls who’d been inevitably spotted outside were also on the run for their lives, the spotlight still making them visible. They followed Zoa towards an electrified gate before abruptly halting. This honestly could’ve gone better had Jiyoon not pull the string, though to be fair, that wasn’t exactly her fault as none of them noticed it either. 

Before all of this mess, the girls were rather creative when forming this whole escape ordeal: a Plan B. Basically, if all hell breaks loose, _kill any and every single soldier you see._ So that’s exactly what the girls did. Along the way, Soeun made a few turn their own machine guns on themselves, Soojin and Jihan threw some far up into the air and let them drop to their doom, and Monday and Jaehee electrocuted them until their skin resembled blackened chicken. Jiyoon would’ve joined in this massacre but didn’t want to cause more trouble than she already did. Now that they were in front of the gates, they had no choice but to break it down.

“Either Jihan or Soojin unnie has to pull apart the bolts and open the gates!” Zoa shouted for them to hear as Jihan offered. 

“I’ll do it!” 

“Alright, I’ll hold them off!”

The older girl informed them before turning around and placed her hand on the dirt floor. Then, large rocks appeared, momentarily levitating and shot towards the charging soldiers, immobilizing them. Soeun mind controlled some of the soldiers to shoot each other, chuckling at how they kept telling them to stop. Monday joined in by grabbing a metal rod conveniently laying around, though tested it out first. Her hands discharged some electricity that conducted through the rod, resulting in a last minute lightning rod. Kilovolts of thunder then coursed through four soldiers simultaneously as they passed out on the floor. Even Monday herself was astonished by this discovery, then proceeded to shock more. Jaehee did the same thing in order to properly help out, but eventually, reinforcement was clearly growing in size. Therefore, Jihan had to hurry and be quicker, but the pressure only grew when the soldiers collectively opened fire, forcing all of them to dive under a large stone for cover. And while they had to reload their guns, she pushed it forward, hitting them hard and taking some out as a result.

“Jihannie, how is the gate looking?!” Jaehee shouted. 

“I’m working on it!” 

Then something made everyone stop. “Wait. Do you guys hear that?” Jiyoon asked as her friends nodded.

In the distance, the sound of kids yelling some war cries were clear as everyone could see an entire mob of them running towards the gates as well. Needless to say, the girls never expected for this to turn into a whole rebellion, but either way, now they have way more help than anticipated. Everyone started piling behind Jihan as some Blues helped her unscrew the tight bolts in order to open the gates, while others fought against the military troops. The soldiers were often outnumbered, but this only prompted for more to arrive. Upon seeing an incredibly overwhelming flock of children, all the soldiers inevitably decided to open fire, which Soojin didn’t notice in time. Now, they fired with the intent to kill. Some kids were unfortunate and fell to the ground, unable to make it. But that was already too many gone, thus Soojin created yet another barricade, though not before getting a bullet in her shoulder. She yelped in pain while clutching the injury and fell. Thankfully, Soeun caught the girl right before hitting the ground and yelled for Jihan to be quicker. 

Despite that, things only got worse from here. Soeun counted about six kids, then looked over to see Jaehee trying to keep Monday standing as her side seeped with crimson blood. She, too, got shot and was quite close to falling unconscious. Jiyoon couldn’t believe her eyes, completely at a loss of words. This was truly hell, her friends were risking their lives for freedom while those kids will never see another light of day. All of this felt overwhelming, but even that was an understatement. Jiyoon remained shell shocked for a full minute, then finally decided to not just stand around anymore. She pushed through the crowd before standing near Jihan.

“Let me.”

The younger girl realized there weren’t any other choices since they had to get out of here soon. Therefore, Jihan stepped back and allowed Jiyoon to finish the rest. Fueling the anger and disgust, her eyes and cheeks grew bright red, inhaling for some momentum. Then without another second, Jiyoon breathed out an enormous trail of fire that easily burned a massive opening through the gates. Instantly, everyone burst out of the camp and never bothered to look back, sprinting far into the forest while the girls helped their injured friends. Jaehee helped Jiyoon carry Monday on her back as Soeun held Soojin in her arms. Jihan stayed behind for a few seconds to summon a large stone barricade from the ground, blocking the soldiers from going after them. Afterwards, the group ran with every last bit of energy they had left as Zoa spotted an RV parked in front of them.

“Let’s go there! Can anyone drive?”

“I can.” Soeun immediately answered.

They hastily barged inside as Soojin was carefully seated on a couch while Monday took the bed. Luckily, the key was already locked in, therefore, Soeun ignited the engines, hastily peeling out of the parking lot and speeding away into the streets. All that could be heard was just them panting, still finding it hard to believe that they just did all of that. Escaping to freedom at last. It was too dark to really glance outside, but the girls could barely trust their own eyes upon seeing streets for the first time after six months of captivity. This felt too unreal, though in a nice way. Now all they could think of was just going back home. Throughout the whole ride, Jaehee found a medkit in one of the shelves, which helped Zoa treat Soojin and Monday. Jiyoon made some tea to help calm the two calm down as well, which thankfully, it did. Soon enough, two hours passed by and surprisingly, Soeun didn’t seem tired one bit as everyone basically passed out. Eventually, she reached an abandoned looking gas station and parked by it, then woke everyone up to go inside. Of course, the girls were reluctant because of how tired they were, but knew there could still be food inside, thus, hopped out without another word. 

Once entering, they were incredibly relieved there was at least a decent amount of food on shelves and the fridges. Jiyoon and Zoa stored all of them into the RV’s fridge and cabinets while the rest explored more of the place. Soeun reloaded the gas before going back inside the store. There, the girls were sharing some snacks and drinks, talking amongst themselves. She brushed past them and entered the bathroom, staying inside for a few minutes just to have a moment to herself. So much happened in one night, thus it was difficult to process in just a few hours. She didn’t realize how long it’d been when Soojin softly knocked on the door.

“Hey, Soeun ah. Are you alright?” 

“Yeah. Yeah…I’m fine.”

“Can I come in?” 

“Oh sorry, do you need to use the bathroom?”

“N-no, it’s ok, I used it earlier. I just want to talk.” Soeun raised an eyebrow, feeling confused but shrugged and opened the door, letting Soojin inside. 

“What is it?” 

“Thank you, um…for helping me back there.” 

“Oh. No problem.” 

“By the way, do you want any snacks? I saved some for you just in case.” 

“I’m good, not really in the mood to eat.”

“Oh, alright. I can drive next morning so you get some rest. You look tired.” Soojin looked at Soeun’s baggy eyes. 

“Is your shoulder ok?” 

“It’s fine, totally.” 

“Well…if you insist. But make sure it doesn’t hurt too much.” Soojin nodded, smiling. “I guess we should go back to the RV now.” 

“Yeah.” Afterwards, Soeun decided to sleep in the reclined passenger seat, Soojin and Zoa shared the couch while the everyone else crowded on the bed, Monday unfortunately smack dab in the middle. They all slept soundly, some occasional snoring from Jiyoon which had Jihan hitting her with a pillow. Other than that, the girls had nice slumber, though the thought of being caught again was still very much prevalent. Their only objective now was to hide away from authorities.


	10. Roadtrip

The sunlight was especially bright today as birds chirped all around. The soft whistle of the wind could be heard around them. Monday was the first to wake up, though tangled in between Jaehee and Jiyoon. She groaned while carefully getting out of bed, trying her best not to disturb them. After some stumbling and trips, Monday stopped right before the door and stretched. Opening it, she then entered the store again to use the bathroom as Zoa stirred awake as well before shaking Soojin since it was already morning. Minutes later, everyone was now up and somewhat looking fresh after washing their faces. Jihan thankfully found some toothbrushes in the store that were still new…but no toothpaste.

“How are we gonna use these then?” Monday scrunched up her nose a little. 

“Guess we’ll just resort to just rinsing our mouths with sink water….” They all sighed, having no other choices but to agree with Zoa’s suggestion. 

“I know we’re in the middle of nowhere, but do you think there’s any places around here that stand out?”Jaehee asked, which certainly made the girls wonder. 

“Well first, we need a map.” 

“You mean this?” Jiyoon said while holding a large, folded paper. 

Zoa gasped. “Where did you get that??”

“I just found it in the cabinets yesterday. Was gonna give it to you, but you were already asleep.” 

“Thanks! Now let’s see….” Since the girls were outside of the RV, she easily sprawled out the map, then narrowed her eyes to see where their specific location is. 

“Woah, this is an entire map of the country.” Jihan stared in awe.

“Alright, according to the pinpoints we’re currently here because the road that’s leading down is where the prison’s located. If we stay on this road, we’ll reach a very small town. I feel like since this is the rural area, we won’t run into too much trouble. I hope.” 

“Well, whatever happens, I know we’ll be able to deal with it.” Soojin encouraged the girls as they all nodded their heads in agreement. 

“So now it’s just going straight and setting course for a tiny village.” 

Monday chuckled at Zoa’s antics. “You sound like a medieval traveler.” 

“Thanks. Perks of playing games a lot.”

Everyone piled into the RV as Soojin ignited the engines, still being careful with the wound on her shoulder. They all failed to notice a car zooming by the gas station and sped far away from them. At the couch, Jaehee and Jiyoon were helping Zoa change Monday’s bandage and clean her injury before applying a new one. Soon enough, they were now on the road, with the only objective of staying on the same road. To kill the boredom, Soeun decided to turn up some music on the radio. Thankfully, it was the same revolutionary art that changed the whole world and shook the nation, winning music charts by storm: Gee by Girl’s Generation. The girls immediately turned this into massive karaoke sessions, screaming out to numerous hits from the legendary girl band. Monday was especially killing it with her unexpectedly heaven-like vocals while Jiyoon rapped along flawlessly. 

Soeun smiled a little while listening to them attempting high notes, chuckling whenever someone’s voice cracked. Despite it being loud, she didn’t mind it too much for some reason, perhaps because they hadn’t had this much fun in months. Soojin glanced over, feeling relieved Soeun was also having as much fun with the girls’ antics. After about two hours on the road, Zoa noticed the older girl had passed a certain sign before looking back at the map and smiled. They were getting closer to the town, thus, several more miles and they’re there. Soojin was humming to Run Devil Run to herself, before noticing something in the side view mirror, narrowing her eyes at it. She frowned, only now realizing that they’ve been the only one on the road till now. Quickly turning down the volume, Soojin informed everyone of her discovery.

“Hey guys, someone’s behind us.” 

Soeun immediately perked up from the passenger seat. “What?” She questioned sternly before looking at her side view as well. 

“Who??” Zoa rushed up to see for herself, arching an eyebrow upon seeing a black car tailgating them. “They’re driving awfully close.” 

“S-should we do something?” Jaehee nervously asked as Jihan tried to reason somewhat, despite also feeling scared. 

“Maybe they’re just a passerby?”

Until the car changed lanes and drove closer to where Soojin was on the wheel. The woman inside then pulled out a silenced gun and fired three rounds at her, though she luckily dodged in time. Everyone screamed in fear as Soojin nearly lost control of the RV but thankfully redirected straightforwardly, then abruptly turned to slam against the car as payback. Jiyoon angrily opened a window to cuss at whoever was operating that vehicle. “Hey!! What do you want from us, bitch?!” That only earned more shots fired as Monday hastily tackled her to the ground.

“Jiyoon, shut the hell up!” 

“We need a plan now or we’re dead!” Jihan had a good point, but the real question was, what were they going to do and how? Zoa frantically scanned the interior to figure that out, then her eyes locked on the emergency hatch leading towards the roof. There was also a wire rope sling, with an additional hook on the other end. 

“I have an idea! But someone has to go up there and use their powers to get rid of them.” 

Jihan quickly offered when no one else raised their hands. “I’ll do it.” 

“A-are you sure??” Jaehee was about to object, but she’d already made her decision. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Zoa quickly put the steel wire around her waist before securing it behind. Afterwards, Monday and Jiyoon helped boost her up to open the hatch. 

“I’ll come with you.”

She offered before sticking the hook in the ladder as Jihan began climbing up, soon reaching the roof and carefully got on it, nearly losing her balance but Zoa quickly grabbed the wire to help her. Jihan glanced down, noticing the driver was still butting heads with Soojin. The older girl tried to go faster than them, but they only caught up seconds later. Jihan looked in the distance, before having a solution then stretched her arm out, eyes instantly becoming bright blue. On the car’s lane, a large stone wall suddenly spawned from the ground, blocking their path and caused them to hit the brake right before crashing. This certainly slowed them down and allowed Soojin to get further away. However, the stranger easily switched and was now on their tail again, thus Jihan created another wall, then another, and another. Then a giant one was summoned to block both lanes, thinking that finally solved the problem. Or so she initially thought. The car easily plowed through Jihan’s barricade, shocking both her and Zoa since they didn’t expect it to be so strong.

But without another word, Jihan then picked up the vehicle itself. The woman inside was visibly shaken by this while levitating in midair, and next thing they knew, she crushed the car like a soda can. Jihan made sure to throw it far,  _ far _ away, surprised by her own strength. She looked back at Zoa who was equally, if not more shocked after witnessing that. Honestly the coolest thing she’d ever seen. They both got back inside the RV and closed the hatch, then earned cheers from everyone, who’d also witnessed Jihan’s new strength.

“That was awesome, Jihannie!” Jiyoon ruffled her hair while Jaehee excitedly jumped up and down. 

“Thanks.” She giggled a little. 

“Now let’s celebrate this victory!”

Soojin announced while entering the small town at last, earning cheers from everyone. She drove around for a bit, eyeing certain buildings to see if there was anyone. But to all of their surprises, everything seemed pretty empty. It wasn’t usual for a rural town, though they didn’t mind too much and just continued. Shortly after, Jaehee spotted a mall and pointed towards it for the girls to see. Soojin parked right in front of it before getting out with everyone, astonished to see the mall was still in good shape for an abandoned looking town. Zoa figured people might have recently left this place for unknown reasons, thus, the girls had to be careful in case they happen to find out why sooner or later. Once inside, everyone gasped by how big and spacious it was, almost feeling a bit homey as well. There weren’t any working lights, thus Monday and Jaehee took the liberty to fix that, lighting the whole place up. Next, Zoa cued up some music, making them more enthusiastic as they went around “shopping” for everything from clothes to new phones. Eventually, the girls found the supermarket that was still very packed with food. They weren’t going to take all of it, but had to spoil themselves a little. Jiyoon, Monday, Jihan and Jaehee all rode around in shopping carts and raced against each other. It caused a huge mess inside, but the others didn’t mind and merely laughed. Zoa was off to the side figuring out what food to bring along with them in the RV and how much. 

At one point, Soojin and Soeun were busy picking out beverages to drink, occasionally bringing up what kind of flavor they liked. The two unexpectedly liked apple and banana flavor milk as well, which were usually the least favorite amongst their peers. Soeun was always self conscious about her choices, usually going with either strawberry or chocolate. Soojin felt bad and argued that people shouldn’t tell them what to and what not to like, but easier said than done with peer pressure.

“I know. I  _ wish _ I was more confident around friends, but…I don’t know, maybe it’s because of my powers that I’m able to act more tough?” 

“Hey.” Soojin placed her hand on Soeun’s shoulder. “You  _ are _ confident. With or without your powers. And I totally understand that feeling. Zoa and I had a hard time growing up going to school…she was called ‘Alien Brain’ while I was pushed around a lot.”

Soeun solemnly nodded. “…I’m sorry you went through that.”

“Thanks. But, it’s no big deal now. We’ve been better since meeting some friends, like you guys.” 

They both lightly laughed as the younger girl continued. “Anyways, here. I think you need it.”

Soojin gasped. “You found it! These are my favorite.” She held 

“They’re stacked all the way in the bottom over there.” 

“Yes! I’m gonna fill the fridge with these.” This made Soeun chuckle. 

“Hopefully they’ll fit. The girls might want some spots in the fridge, too.”

“Oh I’m sure there’s still a bunch of room left.” She then carried out three packs before setting them on the floor, then turned around to grab a basket. However, Soojin failed to see the kids racing towards her and zooming across, thus she got startled and stumbled backwards, tripping. Soojin’s eyes closed to prepare for the landing, only it never came when an arm wrapped around her waist. Glancing up, Soeun was looking back, clearly surprised by what’d just happened. She shyly cleared her throat before helping Soojin up. 

“Sorry. That was an instinct.” 

“Don’t worry. Thanks for saving me, again.” 

“Yeah…n-no problem.” 

“Let’s go before we're flattened by the shopping carts?” They giggled at the joke. 

“Sure.”

As both of them were walking to Zoa, the kids continued playing their little games. Like how these usually end, disaster was, of course, waiting to happen. Monday and Jihan were pushing hard to go as fast as possible. Well, a little too fast. And worse, they were heading straight towards the wall. Thankfully, Jiyoon noticed on time. “Abandon ship! Abandon ship!!”

She immediately jumped off the shopping cart and landed on the ground, Monday falling back, while Jihan caught Jaehee in her arms. Shortly after, the girls witnessed the carts crash harshly, splattering eggs, milk, fruits juices, sauce, etc. all over the place. All four of them cheered, high fiving each other while Soojin only shook her head, thinking it was a waste of food. Soon enough, it was getting late, thus everyone grabbed whatever they wanted from the mall and helped each other get their full shopping carts down the stairs. Then, everything was unloaded into the RV, which surprisingly still had a lot of room. They stuffed all of their clothes into the bedroom and foods in the fridge, as well as cabinets. Luckily, before leaving, Soeun made sure to grab the important essentials: some random car parts hoping that Zoa could use them, and three gallons of gas in the small trunk. This time, she decided to drive and went around the small town to find a motel. The girls helped look as well, until Jihan spotted one. 

Soeun parked in the back and soon, everyone piled inside, but there were only three rooms available. Two of them had beds while one had a sofa and an enormous floor mattress. So what better way to settle this than through a round of games? Eventually, it was tied between Jiyoon, Soojin and Soeun who had to take the floor, Monday came third place and got to choose the sofa while Jaehee wanted one of the bedrooms by herself (despite her best friend’s protesting the teasing), thus leaving Zoa and Jihan for the other room together. At night, they all showered in their rooms, brushed their teeth and changed out of the old prison suits to some hoodies, sweaters, shorts and jeans. The girls then decided to have dinner right outside the motel, using the suits to create a whole bonfire, thanks to Jiyoon. They conversed and laughed while having barbeque before switching to s’mores for dessert, giggling whenever someone messed and the marshmallow was utterly burnt. Overall, everyone had a great time today, even in spite of the surprise attack on them. For the first time in a long while, they felt like kids again.


	11. The League

Another morning, another wake up call. Morning was as obnoxiously bright as ever, thus Jiyoon was the first to wake up, rubbing her tired eyes before carefully stumbling into the bathroom. The muffled sound of the sink running was enough to wake Monday up and then Soeun. Before they realized it, ten minutes passed, which meant it was almost time for breakfast and the rest hadn’t woken up yet. Soojin was still asleep, which only jokingly irritated Monday even more. _(Why don’t you wake up? Wake up!!)_ This pretty much perked everyone up from their slumber, except Jaehee, who was still able to sleep through the crow like yelling. When they were all finally awake and freshened up, Soojin made omelettes before passing some dishes to them. Afterwards, the girls comfortably ate outside in benches that were under the shade. While the group talked about their next plan, something caught Soeun’s eyes while looking over her shoulders: bicycles, one black and one grey.

“Do you guys wanna take those?” She didn’t realize she unintentionally interrupted their conversation when it immediately became silent. Nonetheless, the girls looked to where Soeun was looking, before perking up. Jihan spoke up excitedly. 

“Oh hey! There’s two, we can take them along on the RV’s bike rack.” Everyone agreed and then did just that, but still didn’t leave quite yet. Zoa took out a sticky note to write down anything else they needed before hitting the road again. 

“Maybe more water? Better yet, grab some gallons of the stuff.” Soojin suggested, then Monday. 

“Chips too.” Jiyoon smiled, making everyone look at her. “What? Lays are very essential.”

Zoa playfully rolled her eyes, listing it down as well. “Fine. What else?” 

“I’d say extra clothes just to be safe.” Everyone immediately agreed. 

“Alright, then that’s settled. Who wants to go fetch them on the bikes?” 

“I’ll go.” The oldest girl offered, which made Zoa slightly nervous since she was always the first one to raise her hand. This prompted Soeun to join as well.

“Me, too.” 

“Be careful. If anything goes wrong, call us and we’ll be there.” 

“Got it.”

Then without any more words, both of them grabbed backpacks before hopping on the bikes and riding back towards the mall once more. Wind softly breezed by as they pedaled side by side, which soon turned into a fun game of racing. Obviously more different and safer than what their friends did yesterday, soon ending with Soojin being victorious. The younger girl merely rolled her eyes before heading inside and towards some stores, as well as the supermarket to grab their listed items. Soojin grabbed another pack of her favorite banana milk, causing Soeun to laugh while shoving piles of shirts and pants in her backpack. She met up with her in the clothes store, both hands holding a gallon while her bag was filled with more supplies.

“Here, let me help you with that.” Soeun quickly offered. 

“Thanks. They should be able to fit in our bike’s rear baskets.” 

She nodded. “Is that everything?” 

“Mhm. Let’s go back.”

But just as the two were picking up the bags and water, they heard the mall’s entrance open and some unfamiliar voices murmuring amongst themselves. Soeun carefully peeked from the second floor to see who they were, only to notice they were all wearing ordinary clothes while having large rifles by their side. She looked back at Soojin with a clear expression that they could be in trouble, thus, quickly messaged the group about it. Suddenly, some of the strangers were talking about going upstairs, which made Soeun instinctively drag the older girl away and inside the clothes store to hide. Zoa responded that everyone was on their way now, so they both had to not get caught and focused on staying hidden as long as possible until it was safe. They both locked themselves in a changing stall, keeping silent while hearing muffled noises in the distance. There was some chattering about some organization and scavenging for kids to find, which truly didn’t sound pleasing at all. Whoever these people were, they seemed suspicious and untrustworthy. Besides that though, if shit went down, the two would be ready to attack at a moment’s notice. 

Inevitably, one of them soon investigated the changing room, looking around while communicating with someone else outside, meaning there were more in the clothes store. Soeun and Soojin waited for the right moment, until they entered their stall, hearing the footsteps approaching closer and closer. Abruptly, they saw a man open the door as the older girl then pushed him hard against the wall, knocking out instantly. This was heard by the others as they rushed in to see what was going on, only to meet the same fate. The next guy that came running instantly got mind controlled, then turned around to point his gun on the others, shooting multiple rounds to prevent anyone from coming inside. Soeun kept this up long enough for them to be distracted before grabbing Soojin's hand and sprinting down the escalators. Right then and there, Monday drove their RV straight through the mall's entrance, shattering the glass and stopped right in front of the duo. There was a long, loose wire hanging from the ceiling, so she wasted no time to grab it, which instantly sparked electrical statics everywhere as the strangers duck in fear, running away from the lightning storm.

"Hop in!!"

They immediately did so and locked the door behind them as Monday hit the brake pedal to back up, before swiftly turning the wheel and sped out of there. Soon, they were far away from the mall and were back on the road. Zoa informed them that they were going to need to drive about five hours in order to be safe for sure. Everyone nodded while Soeun and Soojin were panting, filling the girls in on what just happened. As expected, they didn't trust whoever those people were, doing their best to get as far away as possible. However, minutes later, Monday saw several cars on their trail in her side view mirror. Groaning, the girls realized they should've expected this, but with no other choice, they had to hit the roof again. This time, Soojin climbed up after wrapping the wire tightly around her waist as Zoa helped steady her balance. She looked to the side, seeing the desert and its large rocks, then levitated them in the air, in hopes of intimidating these people to back down. But instead, they said something through a megaphone that made the girls freeze.

"We mean no harm! We're the League and are here to help you!" 

Frowning, Soojin looked back at Zoa, who looked as surprised. "'The League'?"

"I still don't trust them, they tried to shoot at us."

Soeun reasoned which was enough for Soojin to realize before launching the boulders high in the air, then dragged them downwards to rain like a meteor shower, which was really effective and caused massive explosions. However, there were still two cars that survived somehow, continuing to announce that they weren't going to hurt the girls. Soojin just wanted them to stop their pursuit, so she narrowed her eyes at their tires before stretching out her arms again. Through focused concentration, Soojin easily crushed them, causing the vehicles to lose control and swerve away from the road. She felt relieved at last before getting off the roof and closing the hatch.

"They're gone."

"Oh, finally." Jaehee placed a hand on her chest. "That was intense." 

"Yeah. That meteor thing was awesome!" Jiyoon applauded enthusiastically.

"Are you alright?" 

Soojin nodded, smiling at Soeun's question. "I'm fine, don't worry." 

"Wait." Everyone stopped and looked at Zoa. "They said they were the League. Maybe we should find out who they are? Just to get an idea." 

"We already have an idea. They tried to shoot us." Soeun deadpanned, but the younger girl only shook her head. 

"Probably because they just didn't expect to actually see you. Did any of them say anything while you both were still in the mall?"

"Something about scavenging for kids?" 

"Hm…well, we'll see if there's anything we can find about them once we get where we need to go."

"Or, we can just look after ourselves and not trust any adults we see?" Monday suggested.

"We are. If there's anything bad about this 'League', then we won't trust them. Let's give them a chance?"

Everyone looked at each other as if waiting for someone to speak up while Monday only sighed. Soeun and Soojin nodded at each other before the older girl spoke up. "Ok."

They drove for hours, switching drivers when necessary. (Un)surprisingly, Zoa also knew how to operate the wheel and spent a while just maneuvering on the road as the rest of the girls made themselves lunch, had soft music on to relax, and played some games in their phones together for the time being. It didn’t take long until they reached another small town at the beach as Zoa parked right by the wooden stairs. The girls wasted no time heading for the showers, cleaning up before making another bonfire on the sand, using sticks this time to light it. Like last night, they had more barbecue for dinner and pastries for dessert. Meanwhile, Soojin and Soeun rode around on their bikes to search for a laundromat, which would help them settle here for at least a week or more. Everyone agreed with the suggestion before resuming back to grilling bulgogi and bacon. Soon enough, Soeun spotted one a few miles before leading Soojin inside, using the flashlights to help navigate. The place was dirty, and thought to themselves maybe they’ll clean it tomorrow. But right before leaving, Soojin noticed something sitting on one of the washers.

“Wait. Is that a…ukulele?” She pointed for Soeun to see. 

“Yeah, looks like it. Why?”

“Zoa always wanted one of these.” Soojin approached closer before grabbing it and blowing off the dust. “I’ll give this to her later.”

Soeun simply nodded. “Let’s go back now.”

For the rest of the night, everyone hung out at the beach and socialized like always. They simply talked about whatever came in mind while making s’mores and toast with nutella. Jihan carried out some more drinks and snacks from their fridge using telekinesis as the girls spent more time either stargazing or randomly cracking jokes in a peaceful silence, making them all laugh. Pretty soon, they all had to sleep, bidding each other goodnight while the same four dorks hogged the bed once more, Zoa called the couch while Soojin and Soeun made a bed on the floor. While everyone was deep in slumber, they still remained awake, simply whispering to each other since neither of them were tired. Soeun opened up about her home life and how she struggled to even communicate with her parents, thus, had to grow up really fast to take care of herself. Soojin couldn’t even fathom how bad that must’ve been, sympathizing with the younger girl. She, too, opened up her own struggles while in school, the daily bullying, teachers not listening to her and Zoa’s cry for help, etc.

Soeun didn’t know why, but hearing about that made her quite angry, saying she would’ve beaten those people up if given the chance, making Soojin chuckle while feeling heartwarmed by the sentiment. She assured her they were fine now and were more than glad to have caring friends. “Still, what they did was fucked up.”

“I appreciate the concern, Soeunnie, but really, it’s totally cool. I’m just glad Zoa and I aren’t dependent like them.” 

“Well…if you say so. But point them out for me when you see them.” Soojin snickered, lightly hitting the younger girl’s shoulder while letting her hand linger on it. 

“We should sleep now, it’s almost 1AM.” 

Soeun nodded. “Night.” She adjusted her pillow before laying back, closing her eyes. Soojin did the same thing as well, quickly slipping into dreamland.


	12. Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW/// There's going to be a death scene here (not any of the girls) and some dead bodies. If you're uncomfortable with the following, please feel free to skip this chapter.

The sound of a ukulele being tuned and played so early in the morning served as quite the unique alarm. Someone excitedly strummed notes from a relaxing tropical piece and everyone would be lying however, if that didn’t make them smile upon hearing it. Zoa was sitting in the passenger seat, giggling whenever she saw her sister stir in her sleep. She didn’t stop playing until everyone was awake, Jaehee even playfully snatching the ukulele away at one point. Zoa gave Soojin a big hug filled to the brim with gratitude that morning for finding the instrument. In the meantime, the girls were having snacks for breakfast since they felt too lazy to cook for today as Soeun suggested the laundromat should be cleaned soon. And by then, it was the afternoon when they finally did so. Jiyoon and Monday ‘supervised’, Jihan was playing sword fighting with them using mops, Soojin splashed the walls with gallons of water from the beach’s shower head, and Soeun, Zoa and Jaehee were cleaning machines with rags. The group basically had a whole party ramping this place back up to its former glory as Zoa fixed the lights, fans and washers. Everyone cheered afterwards, jumping on tables to belt out song lyrics and dancing around. Soeun raised an eyebrow as she watched Jiyoon and Jihan battled to see who could sing the note higher. Thankfully, Soeun kept the earpieces on so she wouldn’t become deaf when they finished as the rest laughed at their antics. This was definitely a place where they could stay for a while. 

Later in the afternoon, Jihan and Jaehee stayed behind to finish doing the laundry after losing a bet, while everyone else was either touring around the area or making lunch. The younger girl laid on the table when she finished putting all of the clothes and turned on the washing machine. Now she was just idly resting by as Jaehee folded the last pile of shirts and hummed to a song. Jihan groaned before sitting back up, looking outside to see parts of the streets filled with trees, making the town nearly a forest. In a way, it felt like they were in the wilderness camping. Then instantly, Jihan was reminded of the times she’d gone hiking with Jaehee and their parents when they were younger.

“Hey, do you think the others would mind taking us back home to our parents? We’ve told them about our situation, but this town seems like we could make good use of it for the time being.”

“But they’d understand though, right? I really wanna see mom and dad again….” 

Jihan sighed, nodding softly. “…I want to see mine, too.” 

“So let’s ask them later?” 

“Sure.”

After a while, they took all of the dried clothes, dumping them in baskets before rushing back to the RV, where the girls had just cooked some curry. Jiyoon noticed them both returning and invited them to the table where Monday was setting down some bowls and plates. “You guys should try this, it’s really good!” 

True to Jiyoon’s words, Jaehee gasped after doing so. “This is amazing! Did you make this?” 

“Actually, Soojin’s cooking it.” Monday pointed behind over her shoulder as the older girl herself waved back smiling. 

“Hope you enjoy! I just followed the instructions.” 

“The curry is even better when you add in eggs.” Zoa commented as Jihan also took a seat and tasted the food. 

“Wow! I love this!” She smiled before eating more. While everyone was finishing lunch, Monday spoke up. 

“By the way, I was thinking we should stay here. You know, after revamping the laundromat, we can restore this town and maybe find a way to find more kids like us.”

The girls perked up as Soeun nodded. “I agree. We could make this our own home now.”

“Yo! Monday and I were exploring this place a few hours ago and the buildings are still intact. We might even have an arcade!” Jiyoon happily added. 

“U-uh, wait—”

Before Jaehee could speak, Zoa pitched in with more ideas. “Oh my gosh, if we’re able to build our own territory and communications, we might be able to send out some kind of signal for them.” 

“Yes! We’ll make a city of our dreams!” Soojin clapped along and added more on the excitement, until Jihan quickly stopped them.

“Wait just a minute! Jaehee and I have something to say….” Everyone instantly grew quiet, patiently waiting. 

“We, um…we want to go back to our home.” 

Oh, right. They’d forgotten about that. Zoa hesitantly responded. “It could be dangerous to, you know…drive back on the road since the military might be looking all over for us. And that person who we’d encountered the other day.”

“But we were able to handle them, right?” Jihan countered, but to no avail. 

“And there could be more. They tried to kill us, so they were also hunting us down. Just like the military is.” The girls slightly perked up, shocked after connecting the dots. 

“So…” Jiyoon pondered on. “Them and the military are working together?”

“Mhm. Therefore, if people like that person are able to capture and turn us in, they’d surely be paid for their ‘deed’.” 

_“Bounty hunters.”_ Soojin whispered, but everyone heard clear. 

“Woah…I never thought I’d be a ‘wanted dead or alive’ person….” And all of that just for having powers. “But—we’ve only ever utilized our abilities out of self defense! Just like they would.” Monday massaged her temples. 

“Exactly. They’re just too ignorant to see our point of view.” 

“W-we can still fight them though.” Jihan tried to convince them once more. “Together, we can do anything.”

“Well,” the oldest girl responded, “what are you and Jaehee going to do if you find your parents?” 

“We…” She looked at her best friend, who gave an unreadable glance. “We’d like to stay there….” 

“Oh.” Soojin was somewhat shocked, but quickly understood why. Their home was their childhood after all. 

Soeun, on the other hand, merely stayed silent as everyone continued discussing the situation. Monday was especially not agreeing with going back to the city and would rather stay here, Jiyoon had no idea whose side to take, Jihan and Jaehee were still determined, Zoa looked like she was devising a plan, lastly, Soojin was trying to calm the girls down. “Guys, please, let’s just discuss this maturely.” 

“Look, you guys don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to, but you can just drop us off in our neighborhood, we can go our own ways.” Jaehee crossed her arm as she retorted. 

“Now hold on—”

“Plus, you’re the one that said you wanted to come with us in the first place.”

“Yeah. _Before_ we found this place.” 

“Why stay here in an abandoned town if we can have our homes again?”

“You know what, do whatever you want.” Monday rolled her eyes before walking away without another word and walked off on the beach alone, Jiyoon quickly trailing after her. 

Soojin practically face palmed herself. “She’s probably just a bit angry, but she’ll cool off in a while.” 

“Well. We need some people to stay here while we go drop you guys off, I guess.” Zoa suggested, which caught their attention. 

“Wait, you mean it??” Jihan asked excitedly.

“Yes. But be on the best lookout for bounty hunters or the military. Can’t really trust anyone but each other at this time.”

The oldest girl offered to drive the RV, but Zoa was quick to inform them that there was another car they could use. They were understandably bewildered until she pointed towards an old orange Volkswagen, proposing that they could fix it up for the road. Now excited, the five of them quickly got to work as Zoa grabbed her box of motor tools. Soojin, Jihan and Soeun worked on cleaning the whole vehicle, its tires while Jaehee helped power the engines as Zoa replaced some parts inside. Two hours swiftly passed by and Soeun was filling the gas before hopping inside to start the car…but there weren’t any keys. Most of them groaned and were embarrassed forgetting the most important key factor of this revamping process, pun intended. But thankfully, Zoa had a perfect solution for this problem. Instead of using that, Soeun would have to shift the joystick to drive, which instantly ignited the engines as it roared to life. Jihan and Jaehee quickly hopped into the back while Soojin sat comfortably in the passenger seat. Zoa opted to stay behind with Monday and Jiyoon for the time being, wanting to keep a lookout for this town when they come back. But before leaving, Soojin hastily reminded them to take their earpieces and some backpacks with some snacks along just in case. Then, she and Jihan summoned an entire, fifty feet tall stone border around, which guaranteed their friends’ safety. 

Shortly after, the girls hit the road at last with Soeun stepping on the pedal so they could get there soon. Jihan and Jaehee checked their map to properly help navigate as the oldest girl simply leaned back, watching magnificent landscapes outside. Another two hours later, Soeun entered a highway when the two saw a familiar sign. Then, conveniently, all she had to go now was stay on the right lane and continue straight forward. Afterwards, they fell asleep by leaning on each other, while Soojin rested her head back on the seat, not napping but keeping her eyes closed as the wind softly breezed. Before everyone realized it, their map informed them that they were getting close, which woke Jihan and Jaehee up. Soeun switched a lane that led down into an isolated traffic, belonging to their old city. They couldn't even recognize anything at first glance, it practically looked like some dystopian future from a movie…none of this felt real. The best friends looked at each other in horror as their heart dropped, a terrible gut feeling inside that was only going to grow worse. Any hope of finding their parents here was now uncertain. Honestly, maybe Monday spoke the truth before they embarked here: there wasn’t any hope in the first place. 

Soeun hesitantly drove further, although it felt like something was telling her to turn back and get the hell out of here. Soojin glanced at her, as if thinking the exact same, but Jihan continued directing her down the road. Along the way, the girls passed some familiar places; stores they’d frequented at, the arcade, mall, even school. Those were just the bare minimum of how awful the city looked, so upon reaching the neighborhood at last, almost every house was utterly destroyed. Roof tops looked like they had been completely torn off, walls broken down, or it was just not there at all, completely demolished. When Jihan and Jaehee finally saw their homes, both hearts shattered to millions of pieces as nothing was recognizable. Their childhood was torn asunder before their very eyes. Once Soeun parked directly in front of the houses, the two immediately hopped out and ran towards Jaehee’s house, where their parents were last seen. Soojin and Soeun quickly followed them, just in time to see Jihan busting down the door with telekinesis since the knob wouldn’t budge. 

It was incredibly dark inside and even with Jaehee’s powers, the girls had to resort to using their phones as flashlights. She and Soeun were wandering around upstairs, though the older girl had no idea what she was doing. This didn’t really feel safe, but whatever happened, she was thankful that Soojin had suggested they wear the earpieces before leaving the small town hours ago. Jaehee was merely sitting in her bedroom, or at least that was what it looked like, and held a frame of her and Jihan posing in front of a waterfall. The two were hiking to the mountains when they discovered it, she smiled when recalling how excited she felt telling her parents to come take a look. Sighing, Jaehee put the frame inside her backpack while Soeun walked by right then.

“You alright?” 

The younger girl nodded. “Fine, thanks.”

“I’m guessing this is your room?”

She chuckled at Soeun scanning confusedly. “Yeah. That is where my closet is supposed to be but I guess they really hate closets.” They both laughed a little at the joke. And truth be told, it was utterly destroyed. 

“So…are you and Jihan gonna stay here, or….” 

“Oh, absolutely not. We just thought maybe our parents would continue waiting for us here, but…I-I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about where they could be and why. I know they wouldn’t just run off without us.” 

“Yeah I get that. Can you call them?” 

“We both tried immediately after we got our phones at the mall but they never picked up.” 

“Hmm. Maybe something happened? Like they had to leave their phones.”

“I guess that might be true….” But _what_ happened?

Meanwhile, Jihan was merely sitting in the living room trying to call her parents as well, knowing they’d pick up any calls from their phone, even if it was spam. She was slowly growing frustrated at this point, but nevertheless didn’t think about giving up anytime soon. Soojin almost pitied the younger girl, though understood how she felt. In fact, it was quite relatable. She, too, worried deeply about her own parents and had been helping Zoa contact them in any way possible, to get _some_ update on what they were doing right now. Or if they were even alive. No, Soojin quickly shook her head from that thought, figuring that perhaps they were off somewhere far away from this place and she and Zoa just had to find them. She took a deep breath to calm down, directing her phone’s flashlight around. For now, they were searching for her friend’s parents. Soojin then entered the kitchen, gazing at the place with curiosity. There wasn’t anything too exciting, besides the amount of cute stickers on the walls. She chuckled and wondered if Jihan had put them up there while her mom and dad just let her. As Soojin walked down further, something on the floor caught her eye, an enormous stain by the kitchen table. Squinting at it, she bent down to examine closer, realizing it might’ve dried up after a while. She took a picture before sending to Zoa, hoping the younger girl could tell her what this was. Soojin’s heart immediately stopped upon reading the response, repeatedly doing so just to make sure she wasn’t crazy.

Just as Soojin sent the message, she looked up and noticed the stain trailing towards a door that led to the backyard. Gulping, Soojin cautiously followed it, her heart speeding up while approaching closer and closer. With another deep breath, she shakily opened the door, peeking out a little, shining her flashlight outside, but it was too dark to see anything. Soojin then decided to just exit out entirely and looked around, realizing how small the backyard is. With one left turn, she directed the light downwards and discovered…four body bags. Her phone instantly dropped and Soojin gasped loudly, covering her mouth as she looked in horror. How in the hell could anyone just leave them here? This was too overwhelming, so the girl’s knees quickly gave out. In the distance, Jihan heard the commotion before rushing towards her, getting ready to fight. Thankfully, before she could see what it truly was, Soojin quickly grabbed her phone and stood up to block her from entering the backyard.

“No! Jihan, don’t—please…just don’t….”

“Why?? What happened—” Goodness god, Soojin nearly had a panic attack when she was about to look left at the bodies, but thankfully, the older was faster and held her hand on Jihan’s cheek to prevent her from glancing further. 

“Listen to me, we need to get out of here right now.” She pushed Jihan back into the kitchen and locked the door, then barricaded it with the fridge. “Don’t ask and just _listen,_ ok? Please….” 

“U-um…” The younger girl didn’t know what else to say, but knew she was out of choices. “Alright, alright.”

While this happened, Soeun and Jaehee were still busy upstairs just socializing with each other. They both talked about close friends, some random ‘adventures’ they went on during breaks from school, and laughed together. Since Soeun always ditched school, she’d go to the park with her small gang of misfits like her, often skateboarding or playing sports there. Jaehee on the other hand usually attended student council meetings, and on top of that, being the Music Club’s president where they would go on field trips to auditoriums, watching professional orchestras and bands play. Soeun jokingly voiced out how boring that was, which earned a slap on her arm. After a while, Jaehee figured it was no use staying here after all and suggested they go back to the small town. The older girl grabbed her hand to help her up, but then something peculiar occurred. 

Soeun saw time rewinding and found herself standing in some hallway, looking around startled and confused. In front was Jaehee and Jihan, fending off against some soldiers together before running downstairs, Soeun quickly followed behind. She was trying to call out their names but nothing came out, bewildering her even more. Afterwards, she witnessed them both get instantly taken down by the ultrasonic gun. Soeun could only stand and watch as the captain pointed his pistol at Jaehee’s head, threatening her, though the younger girl didn’t seem to flinch at all. But soon enough, both her and Jihan were taken out of the house, leaving just a few soldiers and the captain. Two married couples were constantly berating and cussing at him, demanding that their daughters be safe wherever they were taken to. He himself seemed more amused at their energy before whispering something to the soldiers as they nodded in response. Soeun didn’t see this coming whatsoever. The next thing she knew, all four of them were repeatedly shot point blank. She stood there, utterly horrified before shutting her eyes tight, wanting this to end now. 

Then, Soeun was instantly back in current time, still in Jaehee's room and holding her hand. Soon enough, her legs felt weak and she collapsed on the ground, which immediately worried the younger girl. Jaehee hastily got down to her level, rubbing Soeun’s back to comfort her.

“U-unnie, are you ok? What happened?”

“I…I don’t know….” 

“You—uh…you were there.” 

“Y-you saw it, too??”

She hesitantly nodded. “It was like I was reliving the nightmare again, even though I'm not even asleep….” 

Soeun wondered if Jaehee saw the same thing she did. “What did you see?” 

“I just saw my parents, and then me and Jihan getting dragged out of the house. How did you do that just now?” Only a head shake in response.

“I have no idea…it just happened.” 

“Oh.” 

Before they could say anything else, Soojin and Jihan appeared by the door. “Hey, we have to go.” This immediately had Soeun by her side, very concerned. 

“Something happened?” 

“N-no, we just need to leave now.”

Either way, she found herself agreeing as well. “Ok.”

On their way downstairs, Jaehee took her blanket and pillow from her old bed, with Jihan helping shove them in the trunk. Afterwards, all of them were back in the car as Soeun started up the engines before exiting the neighborhood. As the younger kids whispered to each other in the back, both her and Soojin were still in a state of shock, blank, solemn expressions all over their face. She noticed the older girl was slightly shaking, then carefully reached out her hand to intertwine Soojin’s, who immediately returned the gesture. Thankfully, no memory surfing occurred like earlier, so she held it tighter. It seemed like they both needed the small contact. Soeun then decided to use telepathy.

_Are you ok?_

_Not really…_

_What happened?_

_I’m not sure you’d want to know…_

_It’s ok, you can tell me. I’m always here to listen._

_…I saw four corpses._

It took her entire willpower not to slam on the brakes and look at Soojin with widened eyes. _Oh my god…_

_I know…I don’t know how to tell Jihan and Jaehee that…_

_I um…I think I saw what happened to their parents._

_S-so, you know?_

_Mhm, it happened so suddenly. I was in Jaehee’s memories and…yeah._

_Wait, then does she know, too?_

_No, she didn’t see it either._

_Oh shit…what do we do…?_

_Tell the others, maybe?_

Soojin slowly breathed out quietly, shakily while on the verge of tears. _We’ll do it once we get there._

 _Ok._ Soeun didn’t say anything else and just continued rubbing her thumb on the older girl’s hand. Without another word, she stepped on the gas so they could get home faster, getting closer to the highway. Jihan sighed and leaned back, turning as she was about to talk to Jaehee, but then something caught her attention in the corner of her eyes, only for them to widen in shock. 

“Guys, we got company.”


	13. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW// there's going to be lots of violence in the beginning and some injuries, but nothing too serious.

The screeching of tires echoed throughout the abandoned city as fleets of cars and motorcycles pursued after them. It was difficult to navigate between driving at night and dealing with trash littered streets. Constant honking from the bounty hunters grew more obnoxious as Soeun tried numerous different routes to evade them. It worked only for a moment, as the hunters would soon find the girls again. At this point, it turned into an all out witch hunt. Soojin yelped whenever Soeun took a sharp turn while Jihan and Jaehee in the back were hanging onto each other while practically screaming for their lives. This served as some type of sick humor for the psychopaths as their hoarse laughter rang through the night. They brandished their guns out like playful toys to shoot at the girls, but kept missing as Soeun managed to dodge them. The group couldn’t do anything because the moment they gathered themselves, they’d fly out like a piece of paper due to the speed the Volkswagen was going. Thankfully, Soojin had one idea up her sleeve. Seeing bricks and trash cans laying around, she turned to the side, then opened her palms before shouting out to Jihan.

“I have a plan! Let’s try and distract them!”

“O-ok!”

Doing as suggested, Jihan glanced over, collecting the bricks and pieces of sharp from some old buildings before shooting them at the pursuers. They broke their windows, causing some of the chasing trucks to crash into poles or drive into another direction. This now left at least eight or so still after them. Soojin threw several metal trash bins at the motorcyclists, getting caught in the engines and making them explode. With this all of them were easily taken out, which now only left five buses. Soeun warned her friends she was going to make another sharp turn, doing so after a few seconds, causing the older girl to grasp onto her arm while the two kids held each other once more. This helped them as two buses couldn’t keep up and both crashed into a building after failing to keep up. However, it seemed like the other three were just as good drivers as Soeun. Soojin then turned back to get rid of them as well, until one of them pulled out a machine gun to fire multiple rounds, grazing her shoulder. Soeun pulled her back inside ducking down as Jihan and Jaehee screamed at the top of their lungs, then took refuge below the seats together. When the shooting finally stopped, Soeun stepped on the gas pedal even harder, but the Volkswagen had already reached its maximum velocity. 

As a result of zooming throughout the city, it began to run out of fuel, thus the girls were slowing down, allowing the buses to get closer and closer until they were side by side with them. Right before these maniacs could fire off their machine guns, Soojin glared at them as her eyes turned bright blue, shoving the entire vehicle away. It got hurled into a building, which exploded on impact. Afterwards, on Soeun’s side, she rammed the Volkswagen into the other bus, pushing it into some houses, which tore at it’s left side. Then, the driver lost control before crashing into a tree, leaving just one pursuer who gave them the most difficult time. Soeun didn’t stagger too much, but it would’ve been a close call had she not turned away on time before right hitting a fire hydrant. 

Soon enough, another round of gunshots were fired at the girls as they all screamed and ducked down. Soeun’s adrenaline was amped up to an 11 by this point, so she continued to speed off. Jihan and Jaehee were too frightened to help, but no one could really blame them. This was a life or death situation after all. Soojin wasn’t going to give up so easily, wanting nothing more than to end this, even if it meant risking her own life to save her friends. Reading this, Soeun’s heart dropped and eyes grew wide. There was no way in hell she was going to let that happen because those scumbags weren’t worth risking anything, much less a human life. Before Soojin could sit up, she pulled her back down.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“I’m gonna stop them! What are _you_ doing?!” She tried to tug away, but the younger girl only held her sweater tighter. 

“Stopping you from doing something really stupid!! Take the wheel!”

“But—”

_“Take the wheel!”_

Soeun, of course, wasn’t going to repeat herself again as Soojin relented as they switched spots for her to climb towards the backseat. She made sure not to step on Jihan and Jaehee, then put her leg between them for some space. One of them grasped onto it like a lifeline, which indirectly helped Soeun not fly out of the car. The girl then turned around, glaring at the machine gun shooter through the rear window with bright orange eyes. With ease, Soeun made him kill the driver and everyone else inside the bus, gut wrenching screams getting drowned out by the firing of the weapon. It stopped as she made the man turn the gun on himself for a finishing blow. Afterwards, Soojin made a sharp turn to avoid crashing into a wall, and since the bus’s driver was slumped on the wheel, the large vehicle kept going straight until it plowed through a brick building, exploding upon impact. Sighing in relief, Soeun climbed into the passenger seat and leaned back as her eyes closed.

“You guys can get up now, we’re safe.” Referring to Jihan and Jaehee who hesitantly did so, frantically looking in all directions. This event would serve as the birth of a new traumatic experience for them. 

“A-a-are you s-sure?” The younger girl stuttered, unable to form comprehensive sentences.

“Yes. It’s ok, don’t worry.” Soeun’s voice suddenly dimmed, growing quiet by the time they reached the highways again, which concerned Soojin. She stopped when it was a safe distance from the city, before glancing over, only to be horrified upon seeing a bullet wound on her left shoulder. 

“You’re hurt!” 

“Yeah—didn’t realize till now.”

The girl groaned painfully as Soojin quickly rushed over to her side, opening the door and pulling out a first aid kit, then wasted no time patching her shoulder up. Jaehee shakily got out to help while Jihan remained inside, still shell shocked by everything. They could only hope there wouldn’t be another crazy encounter on the road back like this again. Soojin made sure Soeun drank plenty of water and ate some snacks to replenish the blood loss, before scanning the area around them, hoping to find another car that could perhaps still have some fuel to spare. Jaehee helped look as well, but unfortunately, none of them could find any, thus, the girls only had to use what they had left. Reluctantly, Soojin started up the Volkswagen again and drove off, feeling uncertain with how long they had left until gas ran out. The younger kids pulled out their map again, helping her navigate through the highway to go back home. After a half an hour, Soeun soon fell into a much deserved sleep, as well as the kids while Soojin thoroughly focused on driving and protecting her friends. Thankfully, she remembered where they’d first entered this path, then took an exit back to the familiar desert scenery. By then, it was the middle of the night, which surprisingly enough, she didn’t seem tired one bit. Perhaps due to constantly being wary of the surroundings. Soojin checked the meter once more, only to be shocked that it didn’t have much time left before the gas tank was completely gone right about…now. 

Everyone jolted awake after being jerked forward due to lack of fuel, which they instantly realized before collectively groaning. Despite being greatly irritated, Soeun had to thank the Volkswagen for taking so many attacks at once and still lasting long to this point. Jihan and Jaehee were too tired to even think about anything as the younger suggested they should sleep in the car for tonight, then walk the rest of the way tomorrow. No one had the energy to refute and so, the older girls leaned on each other in the front seats, as well as the kids in the back, slipping off into dreamland.

* * *

Learning just how far of a walk it would take to get back home was a terrible way to start the morning. Seeing the four hour mark on Jaehee’s phone screen really stirred up their frustrations upon waking up, but the girls were really determined to make it home no matter what it took. Or well, aside from their energy and persistence along the way, which didn’t really last long as they only walked a mere mile before calling it quits. At this point, they wouldn’t hesitate stealing whatever cars came their way. Soojin spawned a large wall for shade and allowed the girls to take a much needed snack break. Though, on the other hand, she tried to get some signal on her phone, waving the device around and about in hopes of gaining at least one bar to contact Zoa. She groaned everytime this didn’t work, before sitting back down to eat oreos with Soeun. After a while, they resumed walking more and actually continued for two hours after Jaehee had made the announcement. Now, the girls were just halfway there. 

But shortly, another break was decided as they rested under a large tree. The kids took a quick nap on Jaehee’s blanket and pillow while Soojin continued finding some signal. Soeun would’ve laughed a little if it weren’t for the burning heat right now, watching the older girl stray about five feet away from the tree. With both hands, she held her phone up into the air, knowing full well the girls might tease her, _especially_ Soeun.

“Havin’ fun there, damsel in distress?” Soojin jokingly scoffed as her teasing made her feel more at ease. 

“Haha, very funny, Soeun.”

“You don’t have to worry so much, we’re almost there anyways.”

“I’m getting signal so I can tell Zoa that we’re on our way back. I haven’t texted her since—” She gasped softly, forgetting that Jihan and Jaehee were still there with them. But thank god they both had completely passed out already, thus didn’t hear anything they were saying. 

Soeun quickly noticed the change in mood and instantly frowned, before getting up on her feet to walk towards the older girl. “What’s wrong?” She asked softly, placing her hand on Soojin’s arm. 

“I-I…I—thought about last night…” then whispered, “when I…saw the bodies….”

_Wait. There were four, right?_

Upon receiving a small nod, Soeun shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. This couldn’t have gotten any worse. “That’s also why I’m trying to get a signal…to tell Zoa, Monday and Jiyoon….”

“Yeah—no, I totally understand, um….” Glancing around, she tried to find some place where they could walk to while the kids slept. “I’ll help you.”

Soojin smiled softly at the offer. “Thank you.”

The two crossed the street together and since Soeun is taller, she waved the phone around while running in circles, nearly tripping over a rock. They both laughed together as their small mission for one measly signal bar progressed a bit further away from the kids. Both of them made sure not to stray too far away before walking along. Soon enough, it reached a point where they were now standing on a mini mountain, Soojin holding onto Soeun’s arm tight, though not enough to hurt her shoulder. However, just a few steps closer to the cliff finally did the trick as Soojin saw one bar on her phone. Gasping, she immediately took it before texting Zoa a message, only to have second thoughts right then and there. Soeun knew what she was feeling and of course, comforted the older girl by saying it was fine and rubbing her arms. After one deep breath, Soojin could only hope this didn’t shock their friends too much.

“There. I-I clicked send…let’s hope it’ll actually get to them.” 

“They will definitely receive it, don’t worry.”

Without wasting any more time, the two carefully make their way down from the mountain and head back to the kids, who were still very much asleep. Waking them up again, the group continued trekking the last two hours home, though occasionally made a few breaks like always. Pretty soon, their backpacks were empty of snacks, barely any water and legs felt they were going to snap upon taking one more step. But with only thirty more minutes, the girls continued pushing forward and what helped even more was that they didn’t think about the time, because the moment the large stone wall was in view, everyone screamed in happiness. Of course, this startled Zoa, Monday and Jiyoon, who were in the middle of forging a sword. The three quickly recognized the voices as Soojin blasted an opening with telekinesis, tugging Soeun inside with Jihan and Jaehee sprinting close behind. Afterwards, they all collapsed to the ground, utterly tired from the long journey. Zoa questioned what in god’s sake happened to them which Soeun filled in on everything and how they lost the Volkswagen. Jiyoon helped the kids into the RV to rest while the youngest girl stayed behind.

_Did you get the message?_

Zoa slowly nodded. _Yeah._

“What do we do?” Soojin asked, hoping her sister knew what to do. 

But unfortunately, “I-I don’t know, I’m just as speechless as you guys.” 

“Damn…this sucks.” Monday groaned and rubbed her temples. “We have to tell them somehow.” Soeun nodded before commenting. 

“I agree. They deserve to know eventually.” 

“Maybe when they bring up their parents again, uh…we’ll just—all sit down with them and talk.”

“I’m scared about how they’re going to react….” Soojin pondered while looking at the ground. 

“Well whatever happens, happens. If the two get angry with us, then that’s fair.” This was what settled the conversation as everyone nodded. “Anywho, Monday, Jiyoon and I made this while you guys were away.” Zoa held up a sword, earning a gasp from her older sister. 

“How long did that take??”

“Since last night.” She giggled. 

“What made you forge this?” Soeun questioned curiously, then Monday answered. 

“Because I wanted to see if I could be like Thor and channel some electricity in it.”

“But Thor has a hammer.” Soojin frowned slightly and pointed out. 

“So? A sword is cooler.”

“Touché.” 

“Does it work?” 

“I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll seize my moment when a rainstorm comes.” 

“Ooooh then you’ll actually be like Thor.” The oldest girl playfully smirked before holding the heavy weapon in her hands. “Wow, where did you even get the metals for this?” 

“We found tons of scraps around town and gathered them all together for Jiyoon to burn.” Zoa answered as Soeun complimented. 

“Pretty cool design.” 

“Thanks!”

For the rest of their afternoon, the girls focused on revamping some stores and life back to this old town. Luckily, there was still a hotel full of beds inside, thus Monday parked their RV right next to it before they all got to work cleaning the whole interior. Night settled pretty fast as the girls showered, then exited the building for dinner. Soojin and Jiyoon decided to cook this time while everyone got out their camping chairs. For some music, Zoa grabbed her ukulele and began playing some familiar pieces that the girls could recognize while singing along to it. Eventually, it was time for bed, or as they would say and then stay up for till the middle of the night. Jihan and Jaehee were already in a room, while the rest were still choosing theirs. Soojin had also picked one prior to dinner and Soeun saw her sitting by the window while passing, only abruptly stopping to admire. One crucial thing she forgot to do was make sure she was alone in the hallway, therefore, Monday just so happened to see this before ‘accidentally’ shoving her into the room with Soojin.

“Oops, my bad.” She sarcastically apologized with a shit-eating grin, then closed the door on Soeun. 

The girl was about to cuss back, until a soft voice from behind interrupted her. “Hey.” 

“H-hi, uh—sorry, if you want me to leave, I can—”

“No, it’s fine. Please stay.”

Slightly raising an eyebrow, she continued staring before sighing and setting her backpack down before laying on a bed. Soeun wasn’t sure how to feel, but didn’t really mind it too much, in fact, she’d preferred sharing a room with Soojin anyways. “How are you feeling?” 

“Kind of…anxious all day.”

Hearing this, the younger girl walked over to the window and sat down with her. “Thinking about that again?” 

“Mhm.”

“Hey…it’s going to be ok. We have to mentally prepare.” Her gaze softened as she held Soojin’s hands to comfort. 

“N-not just that either. Other things have been on my mind, too.”

“Like what?” 

“Um…well…my own parents.” 

“What do you mean?” There was a brief silence. 

_I’m wondering if they’re still alive. And…even if they are, I’m scared they’ll forget about me and Zoa. I-I don’t know what I’d do if they just abandoned us and—_

_Stop. Don’t ever say that. If you know your parents well enough, then they would never,_ **_ever_ ** _do that. But what makes you so concerned?_ Soojin stayed quiet, which made Soeun be more gentle. _You can tell me, it’s alright._

The older girl shakily took a deep breath. _After hearing Monday’s story and…and last night…I’ve been having doubts for a while. A-and I know, that’s terrible to think about, but I can’t help it…_

 _Those feelings are valid, Soojin._ She then looked up, a bit surprised since that was the first time Soeun had ever said her name.

“Thank you, really. I didn’t think I needed to talk about it this much, but you really helped me, Soeun-ah.” 

“No need to thank me. It’s what friends should do.”

Soojin immediately smiled afterwards before wrapping her arms around Soeun’s neck, embracing her tightly as gratitude. On the other hand, she hesitantly returned the hug just as much and they both stayed like that for several minutes, until finally separating to lay on their beds. Though instead of sleeping immediately, the two stayed up for another hour and quietly giggled together while taking turns cracking jokes to ease the anxiety and tension. This worked out pretty well as Soojin was able to peacefully fall asleep. Sighing once more, Soeun sat up to turn off the lamp before draping the blanket over and closing her eyes.


	14. Kids

Overgrown trees, vines and moss were in abundance, evident by the birds’ nests on several branches. Squirrels scampered about to look for acorns as honeybees rested in flowers. Bushes had also clogged up some buildings, which were going to be a hassle removing later. It was believed that this town had been abandoned for years, hence the amount of hours it took to fully clean and revamp the laundromat. To add some light to this mystery though, a calendar hadn’t been changed since 1997, which meant everything here was stuck in that time. The weirdest thing of it all was why people left in the first place, especially when it seemed like this place was really thriving. As far as exploring had gone, there was a supermarket, arcade, carnival, skating park, clothes shop, shoe store, playground, basketball court, and finally, a tiny school with one bus parked right outside the gates, it’s whole interior remaining dusty. The town pretty much had everything the girls needed to settle down, their only job now was to revive it. And speaking of which, Zoa acted as an alarm once more by strumming her ukulele loud enough to cause her roommates to stir in their sleep. She giggled when Monday peeked up from the blanket before groggily getting up to brush her teeth while Jiyoon still remained in deep slumber. Zoa barged into the others’ rooms not long after as Jihan and Jaehee struggled to get out of bed, even playfully tossing a pillow at her. Soeun was already before this ‘alarm’, thankfully, and smiled immediately after hearing the ukulele playing aloud. Soojin softly groaned at both the noise and bright morning, despite the curtains drawn, as she rubbed her eyes.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?” Soeun laughed as the older girl nodded.

“Yeah…but still a bit tired.” 

“Me, too. Let’s have snacks for breakfast, I don’t feel like cooking today since we have so much to do.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Soojin agreed before heading inside the bathroom to freshen up.

A while later, Zoa stopped playing her ukulele, Jiyoon woke up at last, and soon, everyone was downstairs in the motel’s lobby to eat chips and cookies. Since all they could do with their phones was just message each other, there had to be some sort of way for them to get wifi connections without being traced anywhere on the globe. That was when Jaehee brought up the idea that they could perhaps build their own router and then she and Monday could power it. Zoa was especially excited because she’d always wanted to make something like that, therefore, she quickly planned out a blueprint, mapping it’s entire anatomy and directing the group to gather some metal scrapes. Thankfully, this town still had some wires, as well as a few batteries to spare, so while she was busy piecing together this router, the girls decided to head towards the clothes shop first. The glass door was locked on the inside when Soeun was trying to turn the knob, but Jihan simply decided to just knock the whole thing down. As an unfortunate result, a whole cloud of dust rushed towards the girls as they screamed and ran to get out of the way. Afterwards, she and Soojin used their powers to direct wind, which helped clear out most of the dust inside, though it still needed some heavy cleansing. Thus, they started off with water, grabbing a fire hose nearby and connected it with the hydrant. 

Soeun, Monday, and Jaehee had to all hold it together since the pressure was unexpectedly strong, but effective enough to thoroughly wash off the dirt on the walls, floor, ceiling, even the clothes. Next, Jihan carried all of the garments and levitated them towards the laundromat, using half of the soap they had left. The others grabbed some rags and constantly sprayed water inside just to wash through every little crack, making the majority of the store spotless. Soon, the clothes were dry cleaned and were hung back on racks, though their aesthetic-like vintage design certainly piqued the girls’ interest, thus they all took whichever ones they wanted and barged into the changing rooms. Shortly after, everyone walked out feeling all snazzy while laughing with each other as Zoa entered the shop just in time. She was surprised to see how clean the whole interior was before trying on some new clothes herself. They hyped her up because of the clever fashion choices, which then somehow led to an entire dance battle between Monday, Jiyoon and Jihan. When they finally determined a draw between them, the girls decided to revamp the school as it was right next to the clothes store. 

Judging by its large playground, it had to be elementary. They recalled their memories being young kids and constantly playing around in the jungle gym, slides, and swings. Soeun set the fire hose in front of the building’s entrance before prying it open, allowing Jihan and Soojin to use their powers once more, clearing all of the dust inside. Desks, books, pencils, etc. were all over the place, sort of mixed in with the ceiling debris after years of decaying. Thankfully, everything was easily gathered, then carried outside before the girls turned on the fire hose. They found it amusing because it was as though dusts and dirt were flames. This process luckily didn’t take long, thus, the girls grabbed their rags again to scrub off any last dirt. In the meantime, however, Jihan looked through a storage room and found tons of paint, along with the roller brushes before excitedly telling everyone about it. Monday was especially delighted since she loved art, suggesting that they could redesign the whole interior and just draw whatever they wanted. Several hours later, the school was completely new, like it’d never been deteriorating beforehand. Maybe they should look into interior decorating once this was all over since the rooms were still mostly empty.

The rest of their afternoon was spent inside, splitting up into small groups to explore around. Soeun and Soojin stayed in the main room, simply getting to know each other more while painting. “To be honest, I’ve never actually drawn anything before.”

The older girl looked over to see, then immediately giggled after seeing a stick figure elephant. “I think that’s cute, but why an elephant?” 

“Monday suggested it because ‘it fits’?” Soojin was silent momentarily before shrugging. 

“Huh, oh well. Hers and Jiyoon’s comparison is really something.” 

Soeun looked behind her to see the amusing, but obvious difference between their art styles, causing her to giggle. One side was practically giving Picasso a run for his money while the other was as simple as scribbles on the wall. “I don’t blame them though. Stick figures were easier to draw.” 

“Zoa taught me how to watercolor, so I’m just drawing a rainbow now.” 

“Wow….” She gazed upwards at the massive art. “That’s really amazing. You’re doing great.” 

Soojin shyly chuckled. “Thanks.”

“Do you like rainbows?”

“Yeah, they're really beautiful.” Then a brief moment to admire the painting herself. “I want to see one someday.”

“Wait. You’ve never seen a rainbow??” 

“No.” Soojin shook her head, genuinely oblivious. 

“Not even after rainy days? Rainbows are pretty common.”

“Oh, I usually just sleep in because I easily get a fever.” 

“Ah, I see. That’s understandable. Don’t worry, you’ll see one some day.” 

“Let’s do that together, just to make the experience nicer.” 

Soeun spaced out for a second, wondering what that meant, but nonetheless nodded whole smiling a little. “Sure.” 

Just then, both Monday and Jiyoon barged back into the main room while panting, which set off an alarm between both her and Soojin who thought they were running from something. But what they held in their arms said otherwise. “Guys!! Look at these! There’s a crap ton of skateboards stuffed in several lockers!”

“Jihan, Jaehee, and Zoa already hit the park, come on!” Monday added before riding off, immediately followed by Jiyoon, leaving both of them standing there, utterly astonished. 

“S-skateboards?” Soojin muttered as Soeun simply shrugged. 

“I guess so.”

The younger girl led her towards the same lockers and was shocked by the sheer amount of skateboards in a whole pile. It seemed like elementary kids were really into that back in the day. Soeun grabbed one before testing its sturdiness as Soojin hesitantly did the same. Shortly after, they went towards the back where everyone was currently having fun skating up and down the ramps, not wearing any protective gears whatsoever. Soojin’s motherly instincts were over the roof seeing this, but didn’t have the time to say anything when Soeun quickly joined them. The older girl yelped when she rode down the long ramp with ease, quickly taking the stairs down while also trying to avoid crashing into one of the girls. Jiyoon was practically circling the whole area as Monday did some tricks with Zoa. Jihan and Jaehee were both dangerously speeding around as Soeun was trying to catch up with them. Then Soojin, on the other hand, simply watched and sincerely hoped none of them accidentally hurt themselves, clutching on her skateboard. After a while, someone finally noticed her sitting all alone, approaching with concern.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” 

“N-nothing, it’s fine, Soeun-ah.” 

“Come skate with us, it’s pretty fun.” She offered her hand, which Soojin gently grabbed, but didn’t get up from her spot.

“Actually…I don’t know how to skateboard.” 

“Oh, I can teach you.” 

“I’m scared of falling….” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side. Here, just carefully step on it.”

Soojin nervously did so, trying her best to balance as much as possible. However, thanks to Soeun’s strong grip on her hands, she was able to at least get that difficult part down, which left the hardest part. She instructed the older girl to use one foot on the ground to push herself forward, which instantly made her lose her balance. Soeun was luckily quick enough to hold Soojin by the waist before directing her upwards again. Now, instead of just having her do this manually, Soeun simply got on the board as well and carefully rode towards their friends. Soojin yelped when the whole thing moved, but she continued to balance on it thanks to her. Everyone cheered, applauded and whistled upon their entry, clapping when they saw the oldest girl skating with them at last. Soojin decided to seriously practice skating with all of their help and pretty soon, she was able to ride on her own, earning proud thumbs ups from Soeun. Though at one point, the older girl had accidentally slipped while riding and she was there to catch her from a nasty fall with both arms. They both froze at the same time, just lost in each other's eyes for some odd reason. Soojin didn't know what to think, but everything around her simply blurred away and it was only Soeun. Their moment was quickly interrupted when Jiyoon teasingly cleared her throat, smirking as she informed them that it was getting late, thus they should go back to the motel. Slightly blushing, Soeun gently put Soojin down.

"Ha…sorry about that, I guess we outta head back now."

"Y-yeah, let's ride back together."

Intertwining hands, they both shyly smiled, first going up the stairs and then skating through the empty streets with their friends. The sky was currently twilight, making the scenario all the more beautiful and fun. Monday and Jiyoon were zigzagging as the kids cheered them on while speeding forward, with Soeun and Soojin right behind. The duo went at a steady paste for the older girl to fully get used to the skateboard. She couldn't describe just how relieving it was to finally ride this dangerous board, or as she's always thought. All of Soojin's friends from school had known how to skateboard, but then that'd always leave her out of the fun since it was difficult to get over the fear of losing balance and falling, thus, she gave up trying. But now, despite how much the world had gone to hell, this was the most fun Soojin ever had in a long time. Like the usual night routine, everyone showered, made themselves dinner outside and stayed up late at night doing whatever. But when Zoa finally got the router working with Monday and Jaehee's help, their moods were lifted once there was wifi. They all cheered and celebrated by watching movies together on their phones. However, the fun didn't last long when the girls saw the news. Military personnels and the government were doubling down on detaining innocent kids in the camps, the hell that brought back nightmares. After their successful escape, a handful of more prisons were broken out of, thousands of soldiers suffering casualties in the hands of fellow escapees as a result. The girls felt the tension growing progressively as they continued watching the news, thus, Soeun shut it off, not wanting to hear anymore. Everyone felt the same, sighing as they all either laid on Soojin's bed or sat on the ground.

"……that was something." Jiyoon exhaled while resting on the mattress, momentarily closing her eyes as Jihan nodded beside her. 

"Yeah…I wonder when this will ever be over." 

"Who knows. At least there's a lot more they're looking for now, so it's not just us." Jaehee said. 

"Also about the whole 'building our own city' thing, how the hell are we going to invite a bunch of kids to help us out? They might not even have the internet like us." Everyone nodded and agreed with Monday, but Zoa had the plausible solution.

"I found a radio at the laundromat the other day and have been trying to get it to work somehow. If we could make a code and record a message, then that way, they can use that code to tune in on the radio to hear that message of invite." 

"But how would they know the code? We can't just write it out somewhere that the military could easily find it." 

"Well not just any code, something that kids would know what it means, but adults wouldn't." Zoa smirked.

"Wh—we're just gonna sit here and come up with some millennial password that's like a repellent against boomers?" 

"Yeah? It's not like they could pull their twisted brains out of their own asses to solve the puzzle." 

"So what do you have in mind?" Soeun asked curiously. 

"Hm…I might know just the thing. In the meantime, any one of you can come up with the message?" 

The girls all glanced at each other. They knew exactly how it felt to struggle and survive on their own, especially with the multitude of near death experiences. Determined, everyone nodded as Soojin answered. "Let's do this."


	15. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be somewhat the same as the previous one, but mostly from Jiyoon's perspective

Despite the long sleep, it was still a very tiring morning. No one knew what to expect in the later hours, but there would definitely be more work. In the end, their efforts paid off as the laundromat seemed to be thriving, leading to further hope for the rest of this town. Nothing else laid outside their large stone wall, just desert sands and mountains, literally the middle of nowhere. Sure, it seemed like quite a vulnerable spot to pick, but better to stay here and keep their grounds than wandering about, waiting to get caught by anyone. They only had themselves and each other to trust. In the motel, Zoa had woken up at around seven in the morning while everyone else was still deeply asleep. She had to stop herself from giggling as Jiyoon snored away in dreamland. Monday was on the other bed, clearly frowning at the noise, making it even funnier. Just then, Zoa pulled out her ukulele before playing it loudly again. The bed was comfortable enough to sleep through the alarm, thus it took Jiyoon about half an hour to finally awake and freshen up in the bathroom. Soon enough, all of the girls were just getting snacks from their RV as breakfast because no one had the energy to use the stove and pans. Shortly afterwards, everyone gathered back in the lobby for discussion.

“We haven't had access to the internet in a long time, do you guys want to build a router together? Monday unnie and I can use our powers to fuel it.” Jaehee asked the girls, who perked at the idea. 

“Totally, that way, we can finally see the news. And so then our lives are less boring.” Monday’s suggestion made them laugh. 

“I’ll be able to fix it up if we all look around for some metal parts and perhaps a few batteries.”

“Perfect! There’s gotta be dozens around here.” Jiyoon said as Jaehee questioned afterwards.

“But don’t they wear out over time? Especially after twenty three years?”

“Some actually do last for that long. Either way, just find a few and I’ll work my way through to create the router.”

“You got it.”

Soeun muttered as they all quickly dispersed into small search groups, inspecting about a quarter of the town. Thankfully, Zoa was right: there was much to find in many buildings. Monday and Jiyoon discovered a bunch of wires at a hardware store, though no batteries were in the shelves, which was when Jihan and Jaehee came in clutch after finding five different types of batteries in several houses. Soeun and Soojin collected loads of metal scraps for Zoa to assemble together as she was delighted by all of the items. With that being said, she immediately got to work on the router, leaving everyone else to continue revamping the town. Jiyoon suggested they start off with what looked like a clothes store, agreeing amongst themselves as Jihan knocked down the door. Monday had to pull Jiyoon out of the way as a large dust cloud exuded from inside, both watching in awe as the two Blues directed wind to clear it up. After a quick use of a fire hose, everyone grabbed rags to scrub off remaining dirt, with Jiyoon and Monday working together when some couldn’t leave the walls and floor. Once they were finished making the whole interior spotless, Jihan brought the clothes towards the laundromat. Funny enough, Zoa was listening to music while just halfway done with building their router and her friends were casually being chaotic right outside. 

Shortly after, they returned to the clothes store, though quickly getting interested in the garments themselves. Seconds later, all of the girls walked out of the changing rooms while doing different kinds of silly ‘modeling’ poses and laughing together. Zoa arrived just in time to see them trying on some more clothes before grabbing an outfit herself to join along with their little fashion show. They then danced around to some music Soojin cued up, which inevitably turned into a battle, everyone cheering loudly for the contestants. Jiyoon busted out some b-boy moves, failing horribly but hilariously as Monday and Jihan did some funny dances as well. Zoa declared it was a tie, which everyone agreed with before moving onto the abandoned elementary school. Like usual, more intense cleansing followed, then Jihan found paint and now they were all redecorating the walls. It was hard to pick just one color for the whole interior, so different colors were settled: black for floor, white for ceiling then either red, blue, purple, green, orange and yellow on the walls. As they were painting and drawing, they talked amongst each other, bringing up any topics that came into mind.

“I haven’t drawn anything in so long. Usually I’d create portraits everyday after school.” Jiyoon honestly revealed, but Monday shook her head, disagreeing. 

“You still have the talent, if I’m being real. I like art because I just draw stick figures.” 

This made Jiyoon giggle as she looked over to see. “That’s cute, what are they doing?” 

“Oh, these are us. Here’s Soojin and Soeun, Jihan using her powers, Jaehee and I summoning thunderbolts and you as a fire breathing dragon.”

“Well, I must say, that’s kind of flattering.” She grinned wider. 

Monday blushed seeing the heart smile. “Yeah, you’re quite a badass.” 

“Thank you! Lightning is pretty cool, too. You should totally pull a Thor and summon thunder when there’s a rainstorm.”

“It might be dangerous, but we’ll see what happens.” 

“Oh, by the way, have you seen how cute Soojin and Soeun have been lately?” Jiyoon uttered under her breath. 

Monday burst into laughter at this. “Tell me about it, I caught Soeun staring at her back in the motel, then I pushed her into the room with Soojin unnie.”

“Wow, really?? Damn, I wish I saw that.”

“It was pretty funny. And honestly, they’re being so obvious at this point. I wonder when they’ll actually get together.”

“Getting into a relationship takes a while because you’re putting your trust in someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, like trusting your heart to a partner in hopes they’ll love you forever and promises not to break it. All that cheesy stuff.”

“Huh, you seem to be an expert.” 

“Nah, I just watched the typical high school romance movies, you know?” 

Monday slightly grimaced. “Those never end well, but can’t say the same for those two, even though they’re not really dating.” 

“I’d call for a celebration if they eventually do one day.” 

“Who knows, maybe one of them would make some big proposal like those before prom.”

_ “Ugh,  _ who goes to prom anyways? They’re never fun.” 

“Prom is like any party, you just dance and eat more.” The two laughed and agreed with each other. 

“Perhaps when we invite more kids to this town, we could host our own version of prom.” 

“Like partying?” 

“Yeah, all day, all night.”

“Wow…that’s kind of like a dream. I’ve always wanted to start a band, hopefully that will happen, too!” 

“Oh, what instrument do you play?” 

“The guitar, learned since childhood.”

“Cool! I kind of know how to play the bass guitar, but I haven’t gotten the chance to play it for three years.”

Jiyoon immediately gasped after this. “We should form a band together!” Before they knew it, Zoa was standing behind listening, blushing when Monday noticed her. 

“U-uh sorry, I couldn’t help but hear. I know how to play the drums….” She nervously informed the two as they glanced at each other, then back at her. 

“That’s great! Us three can form one!”

“Seriously? I wanted to be in a band for the longest time, too.” 

“Then you’ve come to the right place, Zoa.” Monday slung her arm around the younger girl’s neck. “When we somehow find these instruments, it’s game time, ladies.” 

They laughed with each other until Jihan interrupted everyone. “Hey guys, Jaehee and I are going to look around this place, wanna come along?” 

“Sure!” Zoa piped up before skipping after them. 

“We’ll stay here in the main room while you guys go.” Soojin motioned to Soeun and herself.

Monday teased and whistled. “Alright, have fun.” Jiyoon giggled at her antics while they both rolled their eyes.

Afterwards, the five of them split up into small groups once more to explore around, being careful to not touch freshly painted walls. Jihan and Jaehee wandered down the hallway, arms linked as they scanned the area. For a place that'd been abandoned for years, it still stood tall and strong, even after revamping this, sort of, everything seemed new. The two were thankful they had their friends here along with them, otherwise it wouldn't be nearly as joyful. They passed some rooms along the way, inspecting each while walking along. All of the girls had worked together to set up the tables and chairs like the classrooms they remembered, which was nostalgic to see, even drawing on the chalkboard for fun. Jihan and Jaehee recalled times when they would dash around together, holding hands to make sure the other didn't trip. Often, the teacher would lightly scold them for rushing outside for recess before anyone else, but it was just because they were airways eager to spend time with each other. Over the years, Jihan and Jaehee had met a friend who'd join them, then the group grew even more, until high school. It went from six to just the two of them in a matter of weeks. Though as sad as that sounded, they knew more than anyone the others were persistent enough to survive on their own.

A while later, both of them stopped by some lockers as Jihan leaned against one as Jaehee stood before her, arms crossing. "I miss everyone…our friends. I love being with the girls, but I don't know."

"I get that, I feel guilty making Soeun and Soojin unnie risking their lives just get us out of the city since they both got hurt…."

"Yeah…I'm also curious though, what did they see to make us leave so quickly." 

"Honestly, whatever it was, we're alive because of them."

"I admit, they were so brave." Jaehee marveled at their courageous actions last night. "We should ask them about it later." 

"Yeah." Jihan nodded while continuing to lean on the lockers, Jaehee finally noticing them.

"I can't believe they have these at an elementary school."

"I was wondering that, too! They're not even locked either." Without any hesitation, she pried one of them open and yelped when piles and piles of skateboards were dumped out onto the floor. The noise attracted Monday, Jiyoon, and Zoa in the room nearby, also completely surprised when they saw this. "Holy crap! This is a jackpot!" 

"There has to be more!" Jaehee exclaimed before opening the next locker, gaining the same results.

"Oh awesome!" Jiyoon picked one up as Monday quickly followed in suit. 

"We can totally use these to explore the whole town faster." Zoa's eyes sparkled with happiness.

"Guys, there's also a skatepark behind the school, let's go!"

Jihan hopped with anticipation before grabbing Jaehee's hand as they both held a skateboard, Zoa following close behind. Outside, the two girls did numerous kinds of amazing tricks without accidentally hurting themselves. Jihan was bold enough to try the taller ramps while the others remained on ground level. Soon, they were joined by everyone else as Monday, Jiyoon and Soeun skated on the large ramps as well. Soojin casually sat on the side to observe with a small skateboard beside her, not one of them noticing the older girl sitting alone yet, until Soeun convinced her to join them at last. The rest giggled lightly amongst themselves seeing them interact, knowing the lighthearted tension between the two. Upon seeing Soojin carefully riding towards, everyone enthusiastically bursted into cheers and whistles, causing them to laugh. Afterwards, they all helped her grow more comfortable with the skateboard and soon enough, she was riding side by side with either Jiyoon or Jaehee, with Soeun close with them to make sure she doesn't fall. Eventually, night quickly fell, therefore they had to get back to the motel. As the rest of the girls raced up the stairs, Jiyoon caught Soeun carrying Soojin with both arms as the two were practically lost in each other's gaze. She chuckled at this, completely amused seeing the sight since they were clearly unaware of her presence.

Jiyoon had no other choice but to interrupt them. "Alright, love birds. Time to go now."

She giggled even more at their bright red faces before heading off, catching up to Monday and zigzagging on the streets with her. joining everyone else as they happily sped down the streets, going back and forth with Monday while laughing. Like all of their other fun little games, this quickly turned into a racing game to see who would reach the motel first. Jiyoon won as Monday tripped over a rock, taking Jihan, Jaehee and Zoa down with her, but luckily, they weren’t too hurt, merely laughing it off as everyone helped them up. Shortly afterwards, the girls were able to binge watch some of the most recent movies, as well as classic Disney films, thanks to Zoa who was able to hack into a streaming app without being detected. Everyone crowded around Soojin’s phone to see the antagonist get their ass kicked at the end of the movie, cheering on for the main character’s victory. A typical ‘happily ever after’ conclusion like always to entice viewers. As the girls recalled their nostalgic childhood for several hours, Soeun was in the back scrolling through her phone, updating herself on recent news around the world. Just as expected, nothing in the world was getting better. Adults secluded themselves in another city to get far away from the camps and even still, kids were getting caught and rounded up. Many had been hidden by their parents to avoid being taken away, but that was horrible news for the guardians themselves if they’d gotten caught. 

Children were forcibly placed in the camps while the parents met their own demise for disobeying government orders. Without saying a word, Soeun simply showed them a video of the news reporting live on the scene. Everyone collectively gasped as Soojin immediately paused the movie so they could view what was happening. Needless to say, the sight was horrible, like reliving that exact moment again, especially for Jihan and Jaehee who hadn’t seen their own parents in months. Soeun’s soul nearly left her body when she heard what they were thinking about. It wasn’t intentional to read their minds, but it just happened so suddenly. Immediately, she informed everyone what they were thinking, earning shocked looks that were quickly suppressed. Though thankfully, neither of the two said anything about their parents as everyone else quietly sighed in relief. No one was ready for that discussion just yet, and honestly, they didn’t think they’d ever be. After a while, Soeun turned off her phone as the girls collectively took deep breaths and laid on Soojin’s bed.

"……that was something."

"Yeah…I wonder when this will ever be over." 

"Who knows. At least there's a lot more they're looking for now, so it's not just us." Jaehee said. 

"Also about the whole 'building our own city' thing, how the hell are we going to invite a bunch of kids to help us out? They might not even have the internet like us." 

"I found a radio at the laundromat the other day and have been trying to get it to work somehow. If we could make a code and record a message, then that way, they can use that code to tune in on the radio to hear that message of invite." 

"But how would they know the code? We can't just write it out somewhere that the military could easily find it." 

"Well not just any code, something that kids would know what it means, but adults wouldn't."

"Wh—we're just gonna sit here and come up with some millennial password that's like a repellent against boomers?" 

"Yeah? It's not like they could pull their twisted brains out of their own asses to solve the puzzle." 

"So what do you have in mind?" 

"Hm…I might know just the thing. In the meantime, any one of you can come up with the message?" They all glanced around to see who would do it, but someone else thought differently. 

Soojin stood up from her bed, making everyone look at her. She seemed determined to work together with everyone. "Let's do this."

With that being said, the girls stayed up a few hours past their usual bedtime to come up with a message, while Zoa figured out how to input her code into the radio. First, the group started off by writing their own messages on paper individually before sharing and combining it together into one. However, this started off not too great because one, Jiyoon’s suggestion was literally a Shakespeare poem, second, Jihan could barely come up with anything without sounding like an amusement park advertisement, and lastly, Soeun simply said, ‘help needed to rebuild a town.’ So all in all, it was just a jumble of mess. But luckily, everyone worked together to rearrange some of these by using Soojin’s paper as a template since she already had all of the crucial details. Shortly after, they had everything ready for Zoa to read off of as she recorded with the radio. She couldn’t help but laugh at some of the ridiculous things they wrote, but was mostly satisfied with the wording, then pressed play. 

  
  


_ “If you’re hearing this message, you’re one of us. You’re capable of many things that’s considered outrageous in our mess of a world. Together, we unite as a strong force against the horrible oppression that the adults have brought upon us. Do not be afraid of who you are, do not let anyone make you feel different, and never think you’re weak. We are more than just ‘abominations’, more than anything adults label us. We’re just kids who had our childhood destroyed by the hands of the very ones who’d deemed us the next generation to lead our country. But now, we’ll make our own, one way or another. So join us in the small town of Ahreum, where you’ll get to be yourselves. Beest afraid not, thy dreams shalt cometh true! _

_ P.S. help is needed to rebuild the town.” _

  
  


When Zoa finished recording, she pressed the stop button. Now to test this was by putting the code in as everyone waited anxiously. After she switched back, they all remained utterly silent to listen carefully. Then like a touch of miracle, the girls’ message played back just as they hoped, cheering instantly upon hearing Zoa’s voice in the radio. “You did it, you did it!” Soojin exclaimed as she held her hand. 

"Nice job, kid!" Monday ruffled Zoa's hair playfully as everyone continued cheering on. 

“Awesome! Now how do we spread this around for other kids to see?” Jiyoon popped up the question while smiling, but then the rest of the girls immediately stopped and stared at each other, then at her. “What?” 

“We actually haven’t thought about that yet.” Jaehee said as Jihan nodded. 

“Hm…I mean, you two, Soeun and Soojin unnie went out last time.” Monday reasoned before continuing. “Why don’t Zoa, Jiyoon and I try this time?”

“M-me?? But I—”

“That seems fair. You guys deserve to rest.” The youngest nodded understandingly, but her sister quickly stopped her. 

“Hold on a bit. We  _ barely _ escaped alive last time and our Volkswagen was totalled. It’s not safe for you guys to go by yourselves.”

“Don’t worry! We’ll protect each other.” Despite Monday's reassurance, she still wasn't ready to let them go yet.

"I'm telling you, it's extremely dangerous! I'm coming along." 

"But unnie, you're still hurt. Your shoulder hasn't fully healed yet. We'll be ok." Zoa held Soojin's hands, which definitely helped her calm down as she took a deep breath.

"Yeah, besides, we got Jiyoon with us, she'll burn anything in her path." Monday swung her arm around the timid girl who grew tense thinking about the dangers.

"Alright…you should rest and be thoroughly prepared, and  _ promise me _ you'll come back safe." 

"I promise. I'm the smartest one after all." She teasingly bragged, earning playful shoves from the two.

"Don't get so arrogant now, you dork." Monday warned while grinning. "Well I guess it's settled, we can all go tomorrow morning." 

"Yeah. And we should definitely find some bullet proof vests. If not, we'll make some armor." Zoa suggested, earning nods from her and Jiyoon. "Great! Now it's our turn."


	16. Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW// very very minor character d**th

Clouds hindered the sun from displaying its normal, brilliant luster, causing an odd shift in weather. It wasn’t anything too bad, but this change ruined any hope of another sunny day. Even news reports marveled while covering this supposed ‘phenomenon’. The temperature dipped as clouds plagued the sky, giving them a break from sunny days, but also getting colder than they expected. However, waking up was easier thanks to their heater. Sweet hot chocolate and the aroma of cinnamon rolls from downstairs filled the whole mote, attracting everyone. What better way to start the morning with a hearty breakfast? Soojin took the liberty of getting out of bed early at six, then went into their RV to grab certain ingredients and _lots_ of cocoa powder for something she knew the girls would love. After an hour of being a chef, cinnamon rolls were ready and taken out of the oven. They cooled down for about half a minute, then Soojin poured lots of icing for its final touch, smiling as she got plates for each of the girls. Soon enough, everyone rushed downstairs to see what was going on, only to be astonished by the amazing sight before them before eagerly sitting down. Her smile grew wider seeing them so happy eating the cinnamon rolls while drinking their hot chocolate cups. An hour was spent with them talking about the news, weather, Soojin’s breakfast, and the list went on. 

One thing was certain on today’s itinerary though; Monday, Jiyoon and Zoa were next in line for adventure. As fun as that may have sounded, whatever unknown horrors waited for them made the girls anxious to no end. Monday was the only brave one while the other two were on edge overthinking about their future. Zoa knew more than anyone that letting these terrible thoughts define her opinions and choices weren’t good for her, but she just couldn’t help it. They needed all of the preparation possible to ensure their safety, as well as ease the constant paranoia gnawing at them. First and foremost, they needed to find a way to transport themselves around. Using the bikes and skateboards were out of the question, including the RV because it was easily noticeable. So now everyone was going around to help look for another car and this time, Zoa was determined to modify whatever vehicle they could find. However, a while later, nothing unfortunately turned up, forcing everyone to regroup at the motel again.

“Jihan and I can’t find much around here. Maybe we should look further around the walls?” 

“We both already checked those areas. Didn’t really find anything.” Soojin gestured to herself and Soeun. 

“Jiyoon, Zoa and I looked everywhere on the streets, too.” 

“Hm…what about inside the buildings?” Zoa asked, this question catching everyone’s attention. “Have we searched there?” 

“I don’t think so.”

“Alright, we’ll do that and then meet back here in fifteen minutes?”

With that being said, they splitted up individually this time in order to get over this faster. Monday, Zoa and Soeun investigated some vacant houses, Soojin skated around parking lots, Jaehee checked the beach, Jihan unintentionally found a completely broken down car and slumped, and lastly, Jiyoon stumbled into a large building with her phone’s flashlight, having no idea what was inside. She’d walked past a poster saying ‘motor garage’ unknowingly while scanning the place to see if there was anything useful. Everything was practically covered in sheets, making her even more curious as she approached closer. Jiyoon tried to find papers that gave hints, which didn’t work out, until wrenches, screwdrivers, and more were discovered laying around on some tables. Gasping, she inspected a few tools before looking through more, eventually sighting a whole box full of car batteries, even tires. This was definitely like treasure finding, though Jiyoon didn’t hit the jackpot just yet. Unfortunately, there were no cars as far as she was aware, but something in the corner caught her eye, being one of the many things covered in sheets. Cautiously walking closer, Jiyoon grabbed the end and pulled harshly until it was entirely uncovered. This resulted in dust flying everywhere, causing her to cough while waving her hands around, stepping back to get away until it cleared out. Shortly afterwards, Jiyoon’s eyes went wide upon realizing what she just found before immediately dashing outside to scream.

“Guys!! I found _two motorcycles!!”_ Everyone perked up hearing her before quickly following her cheering voice as she hopped excitedly. They all gathered inside to see for themselves, then instantly shared the enthusiasm. 

“This is great! Now we’ll be able to keep ourselves hidden with these!” 

“Yeah, we can change the mechanisms so then the engines aren’t so noisy!”

Zoa exclaimed as the girls hastily helped modify the vehicles as she handled all of the tools. They replaced tires, extracted several parts to replace new ones, enhanced the lights, made more armor for endurance, etc. Pretty soon, both motorcycles were entirely revamped and shiny after a quick wash. The girls were proud of themselves for completing this, but now they just needed to test these out. Zoa gave them a quick crash course, but they were still too scared to put her teaching to the test. Monday grabbed a helmet and offered the first try, willing to hop on the seat, turning on the engine as it surprisingly remained silent. She even experimented with the lights, which turned out to be a lot brighter than anyone expected. Now for the moment of truth, Monday revved up the motor that instantly sent her speeding down the road and back as she laughed the entire time. Everyone watched with utter amazement before cheering her on. With that finally settled, she, Jiyoon and Zoa needed protection of their own, thus another search carried out. Luckily, this didn’t take long once Soojin and Soeun discovered a partially rundown police station. To their shock, the true jackpot was still there: there were bullet proof vests, handguns, tasers and batons. They told their friends about the discovery, and the trio wasted no time gearing up with the equipment. Afterwards, they all walked out feeling like Power Rangers. They couldn’t help but strike a team pose, making everyone laugh.

“I guess this is it.” Zoa stated while sitting on one of the motorcycles and putting on some gloves. After securing her helmet, she ignited the engines to get ready to leave, but not till checking the map on the phone just to be sure. “With the motorcycles’ speed, we can arrive at Ansan in about four hours or so.” 

“We’ll be back before you guys know!” Jiyoon reassured as she sat behind Monday, wrapping her arms around her waist. 

“Don’t miss us too much.” They knew she was joking, but on the inside, she truly did want her friends to not stress about worrying too much. “I’ll keep them safe.”

This was directed at Soojin, who was clearly anxious the most. The girl herself felt at ease with Monday’s statement and nodded, silently thanking. Then with that, they rode off into the distance without looking back. When the group was out of sight, Soojin let a tear escape her eye and embraced Soeun. She was surprised by this, but didn’t hesitate to return the hug while looking back at the road her friends descended from. They sped down the street while gazing at the desert around them, astonished by the cooling weather as it was usually hot around this time of day. Jiyoon never understood the heat her friends would often complain about, but now that she was more knowledgeable about being a Red, heat had almost no effect on her. Funny enough, it made Jiyoon feel like a superhero and she was determined to act out her childhood dream someday if possible. Monday and Zoa drove side by side for the next hour, occasionally talking by shouting so the other could hear. She informed her friends that they’re going to reach the woods soon, intriguing them since they both hadn’t been to one in years. Then half an hour later on the highway, the three took an exit and were enchanted by the beautiful sight. They decided to make a sudden stop for a quick selfie because it had to be done. Zoa made sure to send the pictures to their group chat, hoping that would ease them for worrying too much. Soon, it was time to resume their journey once more, lasting another hour till a rest stop was discovered. Zoa suggested they have some food and drinks before continuing any further. After parking their motorcycles outside the convenient store, the girls entered while looking around. They lightly gasped upon seeing all of their favorite snacks on the shelves, but, on the downside, they didn't have any money. Shrugging, the trio just decided to use the bathroom before continuing their journey.

"Oh cool! This place has some of the rare KitKat flavors. I've never tried apple before." 

"They have Apple flavor??" Zoa's eyes widened at the statement.

"I heard Japan makes a _lot_ of different, limited edition flavors, which is why they're so rare around the world." Monday added.

"Yeah! Apple must taste nice, wish I could buy it though…." She pouted slightly as they continued being amazed about candy. But what went unnoticed was the store owner approaching Monday from behind without any of them noticing.

"Hey, can I help you gu—"

_"AHHH!!"_

All of them collectively screamed atop of their lungs as Monday instinctively grabbed his wrist and electrocuted him to a crisp, till she no longer felt pulses. The girls watched him drop like a mannequin as silence momentarily filled the room. "……welp, that happened. You guys want to bring some snacks along?" 

"…oh my _god._ He's—you—HUH?"

Jiyoon stuttered while Zoa remained absolutely shell shocked. They both stood at a safe distance, their eyes wide in a mix of shock and fear, reminding themselves not to provoke Monday so much next time. But in her defense, it really was an accident as she acted purely out of instinct. And in times like this, it did make sense. Though on the other hand, it was wrong, but she didn’t feel an ounce of remorse while hiding his body. Zoa had to delete the footage before disabling all of the cameras within that area, making it easier for them to take whatever they wanted from the store, from a bunch of chocolate to soda cans. Jiyoon got outside as soon as she took a bathroom break and grabbed her favorite snacks, patiently waiting on the motorcycle. Monday continued ransacking the whole store and created a big mess by throwing beer bottles everywhere, leaving the slushie machine on to flood itself, even knocking all of the shelves like dominoes. Overall, just being a really chaotic kid. Zoa somehow tuned out the warzone and grew intrigued by the cashier machine. Needless to say, she was quite surprised by the sheer amount of money inside before counting every bill and coin, then accurately solved the math within several seconds.

“Holy crap! There’s $1,500 in here!” She exclaimed loud enough for the older girl to hear. 

“Huh. He sure took care of this business before that unfortunate turn of events.”

“Yeah….” Zoa finally looked up. “Woah! You totally trashed the place.” She chuckled and scanned around.

“Yeah, I needed to let my frustrations out.” 

“Well whatever helps you I guess. I’m gonna keep this money in case we ever need it.”

“Why? The whole world is basically a dystopia at this point.” 

“For us. But not for the adults.” 

“Ugh…I can’t believe those sad excuses of human beings will just give themselves luxury while we’re out here struggling to survive.”

Zoa sighed. “There’s not much we can do anyways…and, besides, we have our own town to revive, which we can’t do alone so we’ll need all of the help we can get.” She then picked up a random spray can, using it to write the code. 

“Are you sure it’s safe to just put it here?” 

“Yeah. No adult would know what it stands for anyways.” 

“Alright. We should get moving now.” 

“Let’s go.”

They both quickly left the store to see Jiyoon nearly falling asleep on the motorcycle as Monday woke her up, laughing at her reaction. When gas was refilled, the girls were on the road once more, halfway to Ansan with two hours left. Despite this, they didn’t really complain much because it felt like a privilege to drive through an empty street, although the wind was somewhat freezing. To make this trip more fun, Zoa suggested a game of racing right before zooming off to get a headstart, but being highly competitive, Monday quickly caught up as Jiyoon held on tightly. She yelped when the motorcycle abruptly jerked forward, fearing she’ll fly off her seat at any moment. Zoa figured if this game kept going, they'd reach Ansan in no time. After a while, the two decided to slow down on the engines so as to not overheat it, which gave her time to check the map. Sighing in relief, there was only a mile left to cover before speeding once more and quickly finishing the journey. Jiyoon alerted her friends the moment she saw buildings just ahead of them, earning nods as they got closer. Then, within minutes, the girls had crossed through the gates and into the abandoned city that was once known for its deep culture and festive glory. Zoa’s heart shattered into a million pieces as they slowly rode further just to get a look around. She’d once been here with her family to visit relatives, remembering the fond times she and Soojin had while playing by the pond with their grandmother’s small poodle. They always came back during spring break, just spending a pleasant week here relaxing. Sadly enough, Zoa had been expecting to visit again this year, but now…she had no idea how to put it. Ansan was basically her second home, so to see the city like this felt horrible. 

Jiyoon, on the other hand, had also visited here for a school trip. She remembered being so excited and eager, constantly talking about it with her friends even weeks before the day. The moment she heard the teacher announce the field trip was the happiest time of her life. Then after telling her mom about it, she was very keen on coming along as a chaperone just to keep her safe. Jiyoon had gone around shopping with her group, trying out exotic foods at renowned restaurants, met new friends, etc. The last few moments she enjoyed before the whole world went to hell. Meanwhile, Monday never once set foot in Ansan before but hearing the nice stories from the other two somewhat made her regret not visiting the city sooner. So now the only experiences she got was a literal dystopia. Numerous vehicles littered Ansan’s streets, buildings lay in ruins after collapsing and road lights occasionally flickered. The sight creeped them out, but they bravely continued deeper into the city’s heart, which looked a lot like some apocalyptic scenery. Zoa never believed this would happen and she never felt so incorrect in her life. At this point, anything was possible, thus, Zoa reminded her friends to be highly alerted at all times.

“Where do we go from here?” Jiyoon asked. 

“I’m thinking.” The younger girl responded as Monday questioned as well. 

“How exactly are we going to find kids here? The rumor about them gathering might not even be true.” 

“But it still wouldn't hurt to try. And besides, we have each other and these weapons with us, so I think we’ll be able to handle ourselves.” She turned off the motorcycle to stop and look through her phone once more to review what they’d heard last night. “So apparently, they might be hiding underground somewhere. I’m assuming that means a subway station.” This made Jiyoon slump.

“Aw man…those are the scariest places to investigate.” 

“Why don’t we take a short break somewhere? Just to mentally and physically prepare ourselves.” 

Monday suggested, which honestly, that was certainly they all needed at the moment. Therefore, the trio drove around a little more before stopping in front of an abandoned house to climb on top of the roof. Afterwards, they all sat with their legs over the edge, talking about their lives while eating from the lunch boxes that Soojin prepared for them. “Wow! This has to be the best jajangmyeon I’ve ever eaten.” Jiyoon marveled as she ate more. 

“I know, right?? She’s really good at cooking.” Zoa agreed wholeheartedly. 

“I really need to learn from her one day, this is amazing.” 

The younger girl giggled at Monday’s compliment. “We actually learned together with our mom, she always knew the right seasoning to add.”

Jiyoon nodded, being quite fascinated and wanted to hear more while Monday remained silent, hearing them talk about their parents. There wasn’t much for her to say, but she certainly didn’t want to hear any of it, thus, tuning their conversation out with some music blasting in her earphones. Eventually, the trio felt ready enough to continue what was started hours ago, getting on their motorcycles again to head ride around and find an entrance to the subway station. This took about ten minutes when Jiyoon pointed towards a sign as soon as she saw it, prompting the girls to hide their motorcycles somewhere safe and hidden. Then after making sure the earpieces were worn, they quietly trekked downstairs to a surprisingly well-lit subway station, but that was an immediate red flag. If the lights were still somehow working in this place, someone was definitely here before them. The trio stayed close by while going further, finally reaching the floor. Afterwards, they decided to spread out a little to investigate as Jiyoon gazed at train tracks while Monday scanned the whole area.

“Wow, this must’ve been a nice station.” 

“Yeah. And dare I say, it was very technologically advanced, too.” She glanced down at the metrocard machines, seeing that there wasn’t any coin slot or buttons. 

“Totally.” Then Jiyoon gasped. “Imagine how the train would’ve looked! I bet it would’ve been really cool. Sad to say I never got to visit the subway station here.” 

Monday chuckled. “You know, it’s kinda weird the lights are still working down here, don’t you think?”

“Hm, I guess there’s just still some electricity left somehow?” Jiyoon remained somewhat optimistic, but even then, she still couldn’t shake off her nerves. 

Meanwhile, Zoa noticed more crucial evidence that added to her suspicions: there was a working vending machine, a few garments loosely hanging on some benches, and lastly…large faded footprints. No one would’ve been able to see that if they didn’t get closer to inspect, so she turned around to tell her friends. “We’re not alone.” This immediately got their attention as the trio quickly regrouped. 

“Shit. Should we just get out of here then?” 

“Y-yeah, this place is already creepy enough.” 

Zoa nodded and gave them all the go to leave, but then something cold and metal was pressed against the back of her head, making her freeze. “Look who we have here.” A menacing, guttural voice spoke, chuckling as he held the girl hostage with a pistol. “You’re not going anywhere.” 

“Oh, fuck.” Monday could barely utter before she and her friends were completely surrounded by a dozen bounty hunters. 

“We got cash, boss!” One man exclaimed as if just hitting a jackpot, making the trio sick to their stomachs. 

“You three idiots got a lot of nerve poking around in a place you don’t belong in.”

“You don’t belong here either, asshole.” Zoa insulted, making him grunt in anger as he unclicked the safety trigger. 

“Wanna keep yapping your mouth, kid?” The man threatened by lightly shoving her head with his pistol, which made Zoa go quiet, but not for long. 

“Oye, boss. We should call the military and tell’em they're in for a treat.” All of these idiots cackled like it was the most hilarious joke ever, but the girls didn’t pay them any attention while silently commuting on how to get out of this situation fast. 

“I’ll call ‘em, boss!” 

“No! I’ll do it!” Another voice shouted, leading them to banter while others tell them to stop.

“Ya two mutheads always argue with each other, ya never get tired??”

_Three…_

“He started it!”

“No, he did!”

_Two…_

“Whaddya mean?! I called dibs first! You’re not special.”

“More special than you, runt!”

_ONE!!_

Both Monday and Zoa ducked, allowing Jiyoon to light them all on fire and breath massive flames, sending the bounty hunters running while screaming as their boss stayed behind helplessly, paralyzed by fear after seeing the girl’s looming red eyes. However, Monday certainly didn’t let that slide before hastily disarming the now vulnerable man, who momentarily cowered away in fear seeing his own pistol now turned against him. “Move a muscle and you’re dead.” She threatened, ready to shoot the moment he tried anything. 

Jiyoon breathed out one last fiery line of burning flames before turning around to see both Monday and Zoa holding the man hostage. “That went by quick.” She chuckled. 

“You think you’ve won? It’s only just beginning.” 

“Shut up! Unless you want a hole through your rotten brain.”

“The military doesn’t care about you. They don’t care about anyone but themselves.” The younger girl tried to reason with him as well, which was completely futile.

“I don’t give a shit what they think. As long as we get our money!”

Monday narrowed her eyes. “Then die for it as you wish.” Right before she could pull the trigger, ‘reinforcements’ showed up, doubling in size. The girls gasped as more bounty hunters aimed fully loaded machine guns, making them feel utterly helpless.

“Too bad. Looks like the tables turned.” He smirked, now standing up confidently. “Now, before we take you back to camp, you’re going to answer my question.” They rolled their eyes, waiting for what he wanted to ask. “Which one of you is Ruann?”

That was quite unexpected. “Uh…who?” Zoa raised an eyebrow as the man groaned. 

“Which _one of you_ is Ruann??” He repeated, prompting fellow bounty hunters to approach slightly closer and got ready to fire, making the girls all the more nervous than they already were. There wasn’t any way to answer his question and god knows what would happen if either said no. 

However, like a miracle, someone else had an answer. “You wouldn’t happen to be talking about me would you?”

A female voice shouted across from them before at least six men were flung upwards and harshly hit the ceiling, knocking out instantly on impact. This was immediately followed by three more, until gunshots were frantically fired. Despite that, the girls’ masked savior wasn’t fazed one bit, stopping the bullets and shooting them back with her telekinetic powers, thus, letting them know she was a Blue. Immensely relieved, they, too, instantly joined with Monday grabbing the boss by his neck, electrocuting him to crisp while Jiyoon breathed massive flames once more. Zoa quickly pocketed her handgun and used what she could find to shoot the remaining bounty hunters’ legs, immobilizing them. Shortly afterwards, the masked savior yelled out and almost instantly, a bunch of kids and teens ran out of the tunnels like angry mobs, taking the goons hostage with ropes. They were tied together, every one of them either injured or utterly unconscious. Seeing the victory, the girls’ savior finally took off her mask.

“What a nice batch of insecure dudes who can’t take a hint.” She smirked at their weak states. “Do you still feel tough now, fellas?” None responded out of embarrassment from getting beat up by kids. “Get this trash out of here.” A few followed her orders, dragging the men and throwing them onto the train tracks.

“Are you Ruann?” Zoa questioned, getting her attention. 

“Yes, that’s me. I was wondering where the noise was coming from and, wow, sorry these guys gave you three so much trouble.”

“No don’t be, thank you by the way!” Jiyoon cracked a huge smile. “I’ve never felt so relieved seeing you all. I’m Jiyoon!”

“Monday.” 

Ruann frowned slightly. “Is that actually your name?” 

“No, just something my friends would call me. My real name is Kim Jimin.”

“Oh, nice! It weirdly fits you, I don’t know why.” 

“Honestly that’s the nicest thing someone has said about it.” They both shared a chuckle before the younger girl introduced herself. 

“I’m Lee Hyewon, but you can just call me Zoa.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you guys! These are my close friends, May and Lucy.” 

“Hiya!” 

“Sup.”

“Anywho, what brings you guys here?” 

“We’re actually searching for kids like us, to create a community. My friends and I found this town, which still has lots of stuff left behind so we’re working on revamping it entirely.”

“Yeah! And we can use all of the help we can get!” Jiyoon added. 

“That’s cool! I was actually trying to find a place to settle with these guys and my buddy, but we haven’t had any luck for a while. We’d love to join you guys. What do you all say?” Everyone behind her agreed with the idea, nodding eagerly. 

“Awesome!! There’s gotta be dozens and dozens of you.”

“Oh, there is. I counted about fifty.” The trio collectively gasped as this was more help than they anticipated but weren’t complaining one bit. 

“Great! That’s more than enough help for us.” Monday said. 

“Also, before we lead the way back, there’s a code I want to give out incase anymore kids show up here.” 

While Ruann and Lucy frowned, May immediately grew intrigued. “A code?” 

“Mhm, if you put it in a radio, you’ll hear our message. We’ll explain more about it when we get back to town.” Without wasting anymore time, Zoa took out her spray can to write it out for them. 

Ruann grew more confused. “NOU227? What does that mean?” 

“Oh! I got it!” May exclaimed, before speaking under her breath. “The ‘NOU’ is basically like ‘no u’ as if you’re only addressing this to kids and not adults, and ‘227’ is not ‘two two seven’ but two to seven.” 

Zoa was shocked she was able to solve this in just a few seconds, but then she soon realized May was also a Green just like her. “Very good! And you’re quite close, the sequence isn’t ‘two three four five six seven', but it’s 255 127.”

“That’s the hex code for the color orange! Do you know someone who’s an Orange?” May asked excitedly.

“Yeah! We have three other friends as well. Two of them are Blue and one is Gold!” Jiyoon happily answered. 

“Sorry to burst the bubble, but we should really go back now, don’t wanna keep them waiting any longer.” 

“On it. I’m assuming since you guys got here on your own, you all have a way back to your town?” Ruann asked to make sure. 

“Yeah don’t worry about it, we have motorcycles.”

“Wow, that's sweet! I always wanted to ride those.” Lucy slightly pouted, clearly jealous.

“Do you guys have a way to transport?” 

She smirked at Zoa’s question as Ruann reacted the same. “We might’ve stolen a few SWAT trucks and repainted all of them.” 

"We even took a gigantic one that holds a crap ton of rations. You guys are welcome to have some!"

The trio honestly had no idea what to say about this and just a 'thank you' seemed so little. But the gratitude had already been returned after inviting everyone to their town, therefore, it was a pleasant win-win situation. Afterwards, they quickly left the subway station with everyone as Ruann and her gang yanked down blank sheets concealing their vehicles. Truth be told, there were about three of those trucks, followed by the larger one that May mentioned, which was being driven by Lucy. Zoa excitedly messaged the group chat they were coming home, then with that, she and Monday happily revved up their motorcycles, with Jiyoon clinging onto the older girl closer than ever as they sped out of Ansan, Ruann and the gang following close behind. The three hadn't felt great in so long and were loving it. Boy, were the others in for an earful surprise when they got home.


	17. Carnival

While the forest was loved by many, nothing within it could be a safe home for anyone. Sure, people could say they heard dark tales taking place there and kept their distance, but now, all of it was true. While on the road, news started getting around that bounty hunters were searching there, immediately turning in any kids they find and selling them as trophies to the military. Like leeches hungry for blood, except to fatten their pockets with money. There was nothing human about them anymore, but it was rather entertaining that they were _stupid_ enough to report it on television as if kids didn’t have access as well. This therefore, worked in their favor. They did steer clear of forests, though not without leaving a little, violent surprise. And those were perks of stealing SWAT trucks. All kinds of gadgets remained, but one of their favorites had to be landmines. Some had been carefully placed and covered with leaves before kids waited for one of the bounty hunters to be the unfortunate sucker to step on one. Luckily, they’d only used a few, so there were plenty to go around. Loud engines echoed throughout the empty streets, speeding to reach home. The girls knew it wasn’t much further after entering the familiar desert again, therefore, only an hour and a half left to go. Everyone remained close behind, constantly checking their side and rear mirrors to be safe. Meanwhile, the trio looked at each other, quite excited to have their friends back in town meet the newcomers. Ruann seemed like someone they could trust since everyone she was leading looked up to her a lot. A while later, the three grew even more excited upon seeing the familiar stone wall again, chuckling when the newcomers all gaped and awed at it’s massive structure. Ruann gasped, before smiling, knowing this was something she would do.

“Hey that seems pretty sturdy, did you guys create that?” 

“Our friends did! You guys can meet them soon.” Jiyoon enthusiastically responded as Monday shouted atop her lungs. 

_“We’re home!”_ Soojin, Soeun, Jihan and Jaehee were in the laundromat when they heard her voice, then quickly ran towards the entrance, only to nearly pass out with the amount of vehicles following the trio. Needless to say, none of them expected this, much less an even larger truck carrying tons of rations. Soojin had to hold Soeun’s hand so as to not faint right then and there. Zoa, Monday and Jiyoon drove in looking all smug in front of them, then laughed. Then while everyone else was hopping out of their vehicles, they explained everything. 

“And then Jiyoon set off a whole inferno, unleashed hell, and I shot a few guys in their legs!” 

“I fried the leader to crisp!” Monday said that as if she was explaining a movie. “Then these guys showed up.” 

Soeun, Jihan and Jaehee looked behind them, before gasping loudly, immediately running towards their old school friends whom they haven’t seen in months. The other three squealed seeing their old friends again, returning the embraces. “I can’t believe you guys are here and safe!” Jihan exclaimed while grasping onto Ruann’s shoulders like the older girl was going to disappear the moment she let go. Soeun and Lucy exchanged high fives and hugs as well, smiling happily for once. 

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you two again!” 

“We missed you guys so much.” Jaehee wrapped her arms protectively around May’s waist. 

“Ruann and I actually looked everywhere for you two. But after a while, we thought,” she briefly paused, suddenly hesitant to continue but did so anyways, “we thought they got you….” 

“For good.” 

Jihan noticed their solemn looks and quickly figured out that they weren’t able to find the rest of their groups, aside from each other. “Hey, don’t worry.” 

“Yeah, now that we have more kids like us, we can definitely accomplish anything at this point.” Jaehee reassured, which calmed them both down more. 

“I agree.” Ruann smiled. “Now, you guys say you needed revamping for this whole place, right? Seems pretty old around here.”

“But good enough. It has everything we need, so we’ll make the use of it.”

Zoa then went on to explain what the town had, which immediately intrigued everyone. The girls then went on to show them around, giving them more hope to work together. With that said, they all went into the motels to make their own rooms, as well going to fix up several remaining houses and live together, with many others helping them. Thankfully, there was still enough time in the day for them to revamp that one garage Jiyoon had stumbled into, the supermarket to store all of their food, arcade, carnival and the school bus that they could take with them for future scouting. Monday had taken off some letters, making it say ‘cool bus’ instead. Zoa, May and all of the other Greens rewired classic arcade games from the 90s, even adding new mechanisms to make them more fun and interactive. Ruann had also stowed away some of the latest game consoles of this year, thus Zoa and May had the idea to make a huge projector in the arcade, allowing other kids to see each other play on the big screen, overall having a good time. There were only a few inside, but everyone else was having an absolute blast at the carnival and many rode the newly rebuilt roller coasters, merry-go-round, ferris wheel, log rides, etc. However, the best was arguably the skating rink with a whole stage for a band. Miraculously, guitars, keyboards and an entire drum set were still there, just laying around behind the curtains. Jiyoon, Monday and Zoa immediately shouted in joy upon seeing them, also wondering how in the hell they didn’t see these earlier. 

After deciding, Jiyoon grabbed a guitar, Monday deciding on the bass, and Zoa grabbing her drum sticks. Without wasting anymore time, tuned up their instruments and played like their life depended on it, attracting practically all of the kids inside. Soeun, Soojin, Jihan and Jaehee all stood in the front row and cheered their friends on as loud as possible. When _the_ song, Into The New World by Girl’s Generation started playing, the audience immediately got hyped like no tomorrow as they’d recognize the melody by heart. When Jiyoon and Monday began singing the first line together while playing the guitar and bass, everyone did as well. The trio played a dozen more songs from hit groups until their sudden concert ended with a nice note, with Zoa telling them to come back again. Soojin and Soeun chuckled, before heading out together hand in hand.

“That was pretty fun! I can’t believe we stayed for a whole hour of their performance.” The older girl complimented. 

“They’re pretty good at what they do. Although I wish I hadn’t stood in the front, the speaker was really loud.” Soeun massaged the side of her head. 

“Oh, did it hurt you too much?” Soojin turned around looking concerned. 

“Yeah, no worries. I’ll be fine.” 

“Maybe we should ask Zoa about it later, just to be safe.”

Soeun blushed slightly seeing the older girl so caring for her. “Ahem, wanna go on the ferris wheel?” 

“Sure!” 

“But first, I need to use the restroom.” 

Soojin playfully rolled her eyes and lightly shoved her. “Jeez, hurry up then.”

“Don’t miss me too much.” She chuckled as the older girl called out in the distance. 

“You’re so cheesy!” 

“But you like it!” Soeun didn’t lie there, which made Soojin’s smile grow before waiting patiently on a bench. To pass time, she decided to scroll through her phone and go on YouTube. However, what she didn’t notice was a group of boys approaching, obnoxiously chatting until one of them saw her, then pointed out. The ‘leader’ almost immediately grew infatuated, then had the nerves to walk up to the oblivious girl. 

“Hey there.” Soojin was nonetheless startled by this stranger, nervously greeting him back. 

“Um…hi?” 

“What are you doing out here all alone?” 

“N-no, I’m just waiting for a friend.” 

“I see. You seem too cute to be alone though. My name is Bang Yedam, nice to meet ya.” He offered a handshake, obviously Soojin didn’t bother taking it. 

“Right…I’m gonna go.” She quickly stood up to leave, further away from the bench until he quickly stopped her. 

“Wait! What’s your name?” Yedam asked with what seemed like curiosity. 

“Soojin. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find my friend.” 

“Well don’t worry, we’re friends now, so you can hang out with me and the boys.” They all walked behind him, which seemed a bit intimidating since Soojin had no idea what kind of powers each of them. Something in her gut told her this was planned, which seemed a little too paranoid. But the way they were not-so-subtly creeping closer justified her flight response. Miraculously, Soeun reappeared just in time, protectively wrapping an arm around Soojin and pulling her in gently. But the younger girl’s dark glare was the exact opposite of that gesture. 

“Can we help you guys?” She stood a bit taller than Yedam, making him back away a little. 

“Who are you?” 

“I’m Soeun. We have to go now. Good _day.”_

Then with that, the two girls easily brushed past them without another word, leaving the group astonished by what just happened. Soojin wrapped both arms around her waist, hoping it would calm down Soeun’s irritation a little. The shoulders grew less tense when they finally reached the ferris wheel, Soojin lightly dragging her inside. Once seated, it immediately started, progressively going up higher and higher. The older girl sighed while gazing at the view, still holding her hand. She could feel how she remained tense, unsure of what had been on her mind. On the other hand, Soeun didn’t know why, but she grew incredibly jealous and angry that a random boy could just approach Soojin, then talk to her like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Something about that didn’t really sit right with either of them, but the older girl just wanted to forget about it, thus, gently squeezing her hand to get her attention.

“Hey, are you alright?” 

Soeun slightly pouted, which nearly made Soojin chuckle a little. “Yes.” She responded begrudgingly. 

“Thinking about earlier?” 

Sighing, Soeun nodded. “I don’t like him.”

“Neither do I. He and his friends seemed weird.”

“I wanted to punch them. They just ganged up on you like that.” 

“Aw, thank you…when you appeared by my side, I was so relieved.” 

Soeun grew red, but hid it with a cough. “You’re welcome. I just…t-thought that was the right thing to do.” She cursed at herself for stuttering, but it only made Soojin’s heart flutter even more as she giggled. 

“And I appreciate that very much.”

“Yeah, uh…” Soeun realized they’d unknowingly leaned a bit closer to each other, “no problem.” 

“Also, after this, do you wanna go on the merry-go-round next?” 

“Sure, whatever you want.”

Soojin didn’t know her feelings could grow even more than it already did, but Soeun somehow made it possible. The last few minutes of the ferris wheel ride, they discussed what to do tomorrow, their plans with the girls, which other areas they should revamp, etc. Pretty soon, their ride stopped and Soojin excitedly dragged Soeun along with her before the line to the merry-go-round closed. Luckily, they arrived just in time to get one of the two-person seats together, still holding hands. And well, well, what do you know? The rest of the girls just so happened to be around them and they didn’t even notice. Monday and Jiyoon were right in front, both sitting on horses as they turned around teasingly did flirty whistles at them, making Zoa, Jihan and Jaehee giggle like dorks from behind. They both learned to tune their friends out for the whole ride, merely focusing on each other while having fun. Soojin clung onto Soeun’s arm, resting her head on her shoulder while the younger girl returned the contact. They relished the mutual, comfortable feeling, wanting it to stay forever. Soeun had no idea what to think as it was all so different and foreign, but one important thing she knew for sure: she had a crush on Soojin.


	18. Date

Last night was crazier than anyone expected. Some went to sleep early while most didn’t hit the bed till morning. Several kids were snoring in their SWAT trucks as many others crashed into the motel. Luckily, the girls were one of the early kids to sleep…actually, they were the only ones, but besides that, they’d kept their doors locked till the next day, all planning to move the rebuilt houses. First, Zoa and Monday woke up first and used the motorcycles to claim an unoccupied house. Then, the rest of them woke around seven, packing their things into their RV before signalling Soeun to back out from behind the motel. With the amount of items they gathered for themselves, it crowded the whole interior. But Soeun arrived at their chosen house in no time, allowing them to finally hop out and breathe. Soojin and Jihan helped unload all of the girls’ belongings into the house, which thankfully still had some furniture. The living had a large couch, small coffee table and a retro tv. In their new kitchen, they transferred all of their food inside the large fridge, as well as taking time to decorate the whole interior. Afterwards, they checked the bathrooms upstairs and downstairs, pleasantly surprised that both had bathtubs. Then, for the finale, it was time to visit the bedrooms. Unfortunately, there were only two master bedrooms and a small one, which meant someone had to sleep downstairs. Zoa offered at first, but Monday interrupted by saying she’d take the sofa instead. Despite their unsure questions, they eventually shrugged it off. Jiyoon decided to stay with Monday while everyone else unpacked their belongings. Soeun and Soojin picked one master bedroom as Jihan and Jaehee chose the other, while Zoa just opted for the small room since it fit after all.

“Ugh, finally~ we’re done with the closet.” Jihan plopped on their bed as Jaehee laughed before laying down with her. 

“Now we can relax.” They both sighed in relief. “Last night was so much fun. The most I’ve had in so long.” 

“Yeah! Even more fun when we went on that roller coaster.” 

“I know, right?? I could’ve swore the person behind us passed out like five times.”

“How’d you know?” 

“Well, they were screaming for a second and then just stopped out of nowhere.” 

“Huh, that must’ve been thrilling.” 

Jaehee giggled at the memory, uttering quietly. “When we saw Soeun and Soojin unnie though.” 

Then Jihan burst into laughter. “They were totally on a date.” 

“I figured so.”

“They both look good together, too. Ahh I’m sort of jealous.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I want to have that someday.”

“O-oh.” Jaehee cleared her throat. “What makes you think so?”

“Well…” The younger girl shifted a little in her spot. “I don’t know, the feeling of wanting a relationship just came out of nowhere sorta.”

“I see. When did you start feeling that?” 

“It’s sort of complicated.” 

“Try me.” 

“Kind of before all of this? While we were still in school.” 

“You had a crush on someone since school??”

“Or—well, not ‘had’, but I still have that crush.” 

“Oooh, really? Who is it?” Jaehee teasingly narrowed her eyes at Jihan, who broke into a cold sweat after realizing what she just said. 

“U-uh……I can, give you hints?” 

This made her pout. “Why not just tell me the name?” 

“Because…” Jihan couldn’t think of anything to save herself. “I’m not entirely ready to reveal that. Not yet at least.” She blinked, confused since she’d never seen her best friend this nervous before, but thought it was best to just ignore it for Jihan’s sake. 

“Alright, give me the hint then.” 

“I’ve known them for a long time.” 

“How long?” 

“A few years.” Jaehee began suspecting one of their school friends.

“Hm…is it either—”

Just then, there was a knock on their door as Jihan hastily got up from the bed to open it, revealing Soeun. “Oh, morning unnie! What’s up?”

“I, um, I kinda need your guys’ help with something.” It sounded serious so the two immediately let her inside to talk it out. 

“What is it?” Jaehee asked with utter concern. 

“I could use some advice is all.” 

The younger girls glanced at each other, then back at her. “Advice about what?” 

“Uh…please don’t laugh.” Jihan reassured they wouldn’t before she continued. “How do I ask Soojin out for a date?” Well that was unexpected.

* * *

Monday, Jiyoon, and Zoa were in the middle of fixing breakfast dishes for everyone, setting dishes, silverware and mugs on the table. The delicious aroma of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sliced fruit filled the whole kitchen, attracting the first customer down, as Jiyoon liked to say. Soojin chuckled upon hearing that before taking a seat at the table, which prompted Zoa to smoothly slide the food onto her plate. She was impressed by how well it was cooked nonetheless, then got surprised when Monday drenched the pancakes with maple syrup, while Jiyoon filled her mug with fresh milk. The trio did all of this to thank her for the cinnamon rolls, which Soojin said it was no big deal, though remained grateful for them nonetheless. After taking a few bites from the pancakes, it tasted better than she expected, making Zoa blush a little. The fruit and eggs were also a great combination as well, making the dish even nicer. Soon enough, Soeun, Jihan and Jaehee came down to the dining table where they all finished quickly before cleaning the dishes. Afterwards, Zoa went to work with May and Ruann to count their rations, as well as review how many weapons they’d stolen from the bounty hunters yesterday. Monday and Jiyoon biked towards the motor garage to meet with other kids, then help find remaining vehicles around town. On the other hand, Jihan and Jaehee walked to the skatepark together to hang out there. And lastly, Soeun and Soojin remained in the house for a while, just watching TV together to catch up with the latest popular shows. Although kids shows had been banned around the world, Zoa managed to somehow pirate them into their TV, thus the two were currently binge watching childhood series, bringing back their nostalgia.

“I remember I used to watch this with Zoa and our parents. We always had a good time with these.”

“I’m gonna be honest with you, I’ve never seen this show before.” 

Soojin gasped dramatically. “Never??” 

“No.” Soeun laughed, amused by the older girl’s further shock. 

“This is one of their best episodes ever!” 

“What’s it about?” 

“It’s about the main guy being attracted to this girl in his grade and wants to ask her to go on a date, but chickens out the last second because she was apparently dating someone else. Then turns out, it was all just a rumor, her supposed date was an asshole. Even better, she actually liked the main character and they officially date after that.” 

“Oh, that sounds pretty nice. Whole episode is spoiled.” She chuckled as Soojin playfully hit her shoulder. 

“But it’s fine, now you won’t have to feel the same tension I did years ago. Seeing this for the first time made me so anxious.” 

“How come?” 

“Because I was really hoping the main character would get his chance. He’s been through a lot and for the most part, I can kind of relate to him.” Soeun didn’t say anything back, instead nodded understanding. But after twenty minutes of fully watching it, she found herself relating a lot to the guy as well, before nervously turning to Soojin, who was fixated on the next episode. “H-hey, um….”

“Hm?” The older girl faced her. 

“I want to ask you something, if you don’t mind?” 

“What’s up?” 

“Uh—ahem…do you wanna go to the beach with me? At lunch?” 

“Oh, sure. What for?”

“Just to hang out a-and have a talk.” 

Soojin was confused as to why Soeun looked nervous. “Yeah, of course. I don’t mind.”

She smiled before turning back to the TV. For the time being, they both continued binge watching old childhood shows, while occasionally getting up for snack or bathroom breaks. The two constantly gossiped about the characters for hours on end, finding it fun when they both had similar opinions. But when they didn’t, it turned into a playful debate, arguing who was better than the other. For the next few shows, Soeun decided to spend some time in the kitchen alone, secretly grabbing a picnic basket that Jaehee let her borrow, then stuffed some snacks and banana milk inside for her and Soojin to eat later. At last, it was finally lunch time, thus Soeun held the older girl’s hand towards the exact location that Jihan had told her about. Soojin didn’t know what to expect, but felt excited to spend the day with Soeun. She then gasped at the beautiful garden full of different types of colorful flowers, bending down to take a closer look at them. With her back turned, Soeun frantically searched for a red rose before Soojin could look behind. Seconds later, she finally found one that had been in front of her, hastily plucking it out right as the older girl stood up. Her smile grew even wider when Soeun presented the rose.

“Here, this belongs to you.” 

Soojin softly gasped. “It’s so beautiful…I love it.” 

“Y-yeah, well…you’re more beautiful.” 

Her heart stopped upon hearing the compliment, blushing immensely. “Thank you.” 

“Of course.” She smiled back. “Ahem, wanna head to the beach now?”

Soojin nodded in response, holding her hand even tighter. They settled on the sand as Soeun set up the large umbrella for shade, laid out the blanket, and opened the picnic basket, taking all of their favorite snacks out. Soojin was surprised by how much she brought along with them, wondering how Soeun was able to carry the heavy basket. The younger girl didn’t seem to mind the weight at all, passing it off as exercise. For about an hour or two, they ate cookies, toast with chocolate spread, and of course: banana milk. Soojin’s day could be brightened up just by a small bottle of it, as if it was her kryptonite. To make her day even better, Soeun revealed all kinds of funny stories back in high school that made them laugh till their stomachs hurt like hell. Overall, it was a fun quality time for the two getting to know each other more. Soojin talked about friends, school life, and her terrible skills regarding sports, which Soeun could only disagree with. After going back and forth deciding, they finally agreed to skate to the basketball court after changing at home. Soojin was nervous about playing in front of her, but after constant reassurances, she felt relaxed as the two arrived. Soeun honestly had the patience of a saint while teaching her how to play basketball, but only when it came to Soojin. Anyone else, she’d be slightly frustrated with. This process definitely took a while, lasting till early evening, but they both had lots of fun and, for the most part, Soojin actually began to know what she was doing. Her biggest accomplishment was scoring a goal without using her powers, immediately cheering and giving Soeun a bear hug. However, the two girls didn’t realize how close they were after looking at each other’s eyes, simultaneously getting enchanted. Then, unknowingly, both of them slowly leaned closer and closer, the tips of their noses softly touching…until they were rudely interrupted by Monday.

“Hey guys!” Soeun and Soojin were startled, immediately separating to look at her and Jiyoon smirking.

“Nice to see you here!”

“What the hell do you want?” 

“We’re gonna go party at the roller skate rink again. Wanna come?” Monday asked. 

“Y-yeah, yeah, sure.” Soojin timidly released herself from the hug, but quickly kissed Soeun’s cheek, perplexing the girl. “Sorry, was that too much?” 

“No, no not at all. I-I kind of liked that.” 

She giggled before doing it again once more. “Let’s go together, don’t wanna miss their live performance.”

Then for the rest of the night, the band partied hard with their audience more hyped than yesterday. Right before performing, however, Jiyoon had announced their group’s name that had everyone chanting it: Weeekly. “We’re bringing you guys music 7 days a week, 365 days a year!” Jiyoon was really getting into it. While they played a famous rock song, kids kept repeating the name, which eventually got stuck in their heads for a while. The concert lasted for about two hours, the remaining half becoming huge karaoke sessions with all of them participating, then everyone went home at last. Jiyoon, Monday and Zoa high fived each other after yet another successful concert, before meeting the rest of their friends at home. Everyone celebrated in the living room with late night movie binges, followed with lots of popcorn. Jihan and Jaehee whispered to ask how her date went, to which she responded it went really well, even informing them about what happened at the basketball court. The two kids had to stop themselves squealing like idiots before giggling to themselves and continued watching some Disney movie with them. Hours into the night, Monday and Jiyoon were both fast asleep on their stretched out sofa, Jihan and Jaehee snoring by the foot of it, Zoa had gone up to her own room, and lastly, Soeun and Soojin cuddling in their bed, having slipped into dreamland a while ago.


	19. Training

**Four weeks later.**

Just like any other town, ground rules were straightforward and clear: no fighting, no vandalizing, and no frets. Ration distributions weren't hard to get through since there was plenty to share, but due to the size of their group, food and water will eventually run out soon, despite their abundance of supplies. So to encourage everyone, Ruann suggested Greens, Blues and Golds to work side by side and get used to cooperating around here. Some worked in the motor garage, repairing all sorts of vehicles, then testing the new engines. Most Greens stayed in the hardware store to enhance some weapons they’d brought along, including ones from the rundown police station. Zoa and May mostly worked together enhancing the handguns, making them a little more dangerous to handle. Therefore, heavy safety measures had to be set. Jihan and Jaehee were searching for more vehicles to repair at the garage, one lifting heavy weights while the other helped power remodeled engines. They were the best duo in town, so many kids looked forward to working with them. Meanwhile, Monday and Jiyoon were off taking a break in the arcade, both teaming up to stop alien invaders on their spaceship. A few kids got attracted by their rowdiness and noticed them beating the highest score, resulting in their own cheering squad forming behind them. Lastly, Soeun didn’t really know what kind of job she was supposed to do. Soojin had been working with Ruann for four weeks to plan another scouting mission, which hadn’t been since the trio’s journey. Therefore, Soeun couldn’t ask her for another date, although they still talk about it together a lot, much like dorks in love. 

Her feelings felt so foreign, which would’ve made her chicken out of asking if she hadn’t talked to their other friends. Jihan and Jaehee in particular helped a great deal the first time, the others generously gave their own advice as well. Now though, everyone’s busy with improving the town. That being said, just a few days ago, a group of ten more kids had arrived after hearing the girl’s radio message, thus making it a success. They celebrated with yet another concert by Weeekly, the audience constantly chanting their names. Aside from that fiesta, Soeun simply remained at home for the time being and did most of the chores in their house. To ease her boredom, she’d binge watch shows for hours, waiting for either of the girls to arrive home and tell her about their day. They’d occasionally hold late night ‘sleepover’ parties that served as celebrations for their hard work in town. It was a blessing to see it so lively, thus looking back on the first day felt like years ago. The girls last did this two weeks ago because of the workload, but Soeun didn’t mind since everyone had so much passion regarding this. Besides, it didn’t seem like she needed to use her powers at the moment. Later in the day, Ruann and Soojin finished with their meeting, thus the older girl was free to head home. Once through the door, she noticed Soeun cooking lunch in the kitchen while humming a song to herself. Soojin smiled before tiptoeing inside, wrapping her arms around the girl’s waist. She didn’t have to look behind to know who it was and chuckled.

“You’re home earlier than usual.” 

“Yeah, I requested a break for once since things are getting a bit more serious, now that the town has been fully revived.”

“How’s your work going?”

“I wouldn’t really call it ‘work’, just a meeting with some friends to discuss important matters.” 

“So, work.” Soeun teased, earning a light smack on her shoulder. 

“Anyways, what are you cooking?” 

“Spaghetti, one of our group’s favorite dishes.” 

Soojin giggled because it was so true. That one time they had to share resulted in a mess, _no one_ wanted to give their portions away. “I hope you made enough. Don’t want another food fight on our hands because I’m not helping to clean up this time.” 

“It made me realize just how chaotic they were.” 

“I still can’t believe you mind controlled Jihan and stopped her from throwing our only plate of pie at Jiyoon.” 

“I had to! I mean—I didn’t want to, but you know….” 

“Yeah, it’s understandable. The girls’ reactions were priceless.” Soojin smiled even wider thinking about Monday making Jihan do funny faces while she remained in an utter blank state. “What else have you been up to?” 

“Chores, binge watching shows, and sleeping. That’s pretty much it.”

“That must’ve been nice. I wish I could stay home all day.”

“Why do you go to these meetings anyways?” 

“Ruann recommended I do so because I seem like a leader? Strange, if you ask me.”

“Nah, it’s not that. You do seem like one after all. And you’re probably the oldest around here.” 

“I suppose, I just don’t want all of that stress to grow even more than it already does.” 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be less stressed when I finish cooking.” 

“Thank you.”

Soojin continued smiling, continuing to embrace Soeun until the stove turned off and she served their lunch on plates. They both stayed at the kitchen table for half an hour just talking about whatever came up to mind. One topic had their sides hurting from all the laughter that filled the room, the food now taking a back seat. They talked about last week, how everyone was working and hanging out like usual. However, Monday, Jiyoon, Jihan and Jaehee were all playing ‘sword fighting’ with sticks in their backyard, and while things were peaceful, that was short-lived once Monday decided to draw out the actual sword. Thankfully, Jihan easily disarmed her as she got pinned to the ground, allowing Jiyoon to take off her shoes before tossing it way up onto the utility wires. None of the girls were ever going to let Monday live that down, but she found it funny as well, and that event became a running joke between them since. After several hours, Soeun and Soojin were washing their own dishes when knocking caught their attention, then quickly walked up to open the door, only to see Ruann at their steps.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?” Soojin greeted. 

“Sorry to appear out of the blue, but we need your guys’ help with something.” 

“Both of us?” Soeun raised her eyebrow. 

“Yes. I’ll explain when we get there. It’s better to show it to you in person.” 

They glanced at each other when Soeun realized that Ruann was truthfully being serious, giving Soojin a nod. Afterwards, all three headed towards the motel where many Greens, including Zoa, were trying to figure out what was going on with their radio, the same they’d used to create the code. When Zoa noticed her friends’ presence, she immediately walked up to greet them. “Hi guys, glad you could make it. You need to listen to this.” As the tension grew, Soojin and Soeun sat in front of the radio as she turned it on. For the first few seconds, all they heard were static noises, until it stopped in an eerie silence, a voice on the other side breaking through, though their words kept glitching out.

_……if—if anyone is listening—right now…please help! M-M-My name is Ji—! We’ve b-been caught—by m…m-military at camp……! Need help…please…shit!_

Then it cut off completely, a soft buzzing sound that indicated an ending to what was left of the message. “We received this just now, but judging by how far radiograms travel, this was sent eight hours ago.” Zoa informed. 

“So…” Soeun spoke hesitantly, “what do we do with this?” 

“We’re going to save them.” Ruann answered nonchalantly.

“But—we can’t go back! My friends and I had escaped from one.”

“You guys can escape from there again.” 

Zoa frowned. “We _barely_ survived.” 

“Because you didn’t use your powers to their fullest potentials.” 

“What do you mean?” Soeun asked as Ruann smiled. 

“Don’t worry, I got this under control. All of the kids that I’d brought with me here were _from_ those camps. That’s why those bounty hunters knew me. So, how did I do it? By training myself.” 

“‘Training’? How do you do that?” 

“Easy. I just experimented a little, then before I even realized it, my powers got better the more I practiced. And trust me, knowing how to stop bullets it’s extremely essential.” 

“Then where do we even begin?” Soojin asked as Lucy walked up to Ruann’s side, then raised a hand to display. Within seconds, electricity traveled through her fingers as she effortlessly controlled them. Not once did the electricity abruptly shoot out like how Monday and Jaehee always did. 

After the show was done, Lucy spoke up. “Start with what you’re already capable of, then you’ll definitely get the hang of it.” Soojin was fascinated. 

“Woah…that would explain why you’re not wearing any gloves!” 

“Exactly. While we may have our powers, it’s crucial to control them.”

“Lucy and I can train all the Blues and Golds in some desolate area, if you guys don’t mind. And you and friends can join, too, Soojin.” 

Both her and Soeun, as well as Zoa contemplated on the idea for a bit, wondering if the other girls would agree. Despite the fact that the training process could take a toll on their minds, they’d definitely benefit from fully controlling it. And most importantly of all, the girls would likely become dependent on themselves. Therefore, the three nodded to each other before Soojin spoke up. “Alright, we’re in.” She asked herself: how bad could training possibly be?

* * *

It would be easy, they said. It would be fun…they said. Lots of kids had passed out from exerting too much strength and energy into their minds, causing mild headaches and fatigue. Although they got some strength from sleep, that wasn’t enough to continue with more training. Some persisted through the exercises and a rather decent amount at that. They too, however,, passed out from exhaustion. Afterwards, Ruann and Lucy decided to take baby steps instead of rushing ahead. Both them and May could only hope that whoever sent them the message remained well enough before they came to their rescue. Meanwhile, Zoa, Soeun and Jiyoon were helping their friends head back home, struggling more than expected. They all soon made it to the door as everyone crashed to the ground and sofa. Jiyoon and Soeun hastily grabbed loads of snacks from the cabinets before dumping them all out for her friends to eat, while Zoa remained in the living room treating their headaches with ice packs. Thankfully, Jaehee and Monday didn’t have to wear their gloves anymore, and Soojin and Jihan could move almost any objects around with ease. Ruann had advised that an eight hour rest would help with the fatigue, so now all of them were getting ready to sleep. Upstairs in the bedrooms, Zoa entered hers after helping the two kids who could barely walk on their own. With a heavy sigh, she plopped onto the bed and took out her phone, looking up the news. 

There wasn’t anything new, rather the usual weather forecasting, as well as latest upcoming shows that not many people seemed to have found interesting, judging by the views. Zoa was thoroughly amused how these adults lived in their own world without kids. They created this stigma that children like her weren’t mature and intelligent like grown ups because they’re always so spoiled, as if that was ever their fault. While watching some thirty year olds acting terribly in a low budget movie, Zoa thought about what would happen in the next few weeks, even months. Though things seemed to be going fine, she felt a little odd about running this town with her friends. Even before they’d discovered this place, Zoa imagined what it would be like if they were able to move back into the city on their own after becoming adults themselves. Would it even be allowed despite that? And would they still have their powers? Or will it just vanish once they hit twenty? Sighing, she turned off her phone and set it on her nightstand. The possibilities were endless. Zoa even wondered if the current adults in this day and age were reproducing new babies to replace them. She slumped just thinking about that. Her and Soojin’s parents wouldn’t do that…right?

“Wait.” Something clicked. “That must explain the League…but…are there actually good people out there…willing to help _us_ out?” Whispering to herself. She was about to head outside and tell the girls about her thoughts, only to quickly realize that they might be too tired to even listen. Therefore, she decided to do so tomorrow morning if given the chance. Afterwards, Zoa tucked herself, turning off the light to sleep at last.

* * *

A sudden crash in the kitchen jolted everyone awake. Soojin was the first to rush downstairs, despite still feeling a little weary. Luckily, her worries were immediately gone when she entered to see Jiyoon and Monday picking several broken dishes. Soojin sighed in relief before asking them if they were alright, as both quickly dismissed it, calling it an accident. Soon, the rest of the girls came downstairs for breakfast and talked about the tasks they were going to do today. Jihan and Jaehee were finally visiting the arcade, the trio were planning on writing their own songs, and Soeun was secretly looking forward to asking Soojin out for another date. Overall, the girls were excited with their individual activities for the day. However, everything was immediately thrown out the window when knocking interrupted them. Monday answered the door to see May before letting her inside. Needless to say, there were already plans for them, unfortunately.

“Hey guys…sorry to come by without notice, but we’re having a food problem. There’s not much left and we might run out by the end of this month.” 

“Jeez, how much are people eating??” Jihan frowned in confusion. 

“More than expected, I guess. Ruann unnie is planning on making a more strict policy about taking rations, so, until then, we need to go out and find more to live by.” 

“Wait, why are you coming to us specifically?” Zoa questioned, but May was just as confused. 

“Well—you guys found this place first, right? It’s only fair you’re all a part of the leading group.” 

Jaehee was taken aback. “I-I’ve never done anything like that before.” 

“Ok so, what is Ruann proposing?” Soeun asked. 

“She just wants to create a team willing to travel outside of this town to get what we need. Maybe then, we’ll have time to save that person from the radio message.” 

Zoa grew more nervous. “Then…I’m assuming we should all meet up to decide who’s going?” May nodded to her inquiry. 

“Yeah. It seems so.” 

The rest of the girls slumped at the suggestion. Sure, they haven’t been out in a while, but that was what kept them at ease. Not _needing_ to leave home to find more food for everyone was a luxury in itself. Thus, now that the time had come again, they were more concerned than anything. But Soojin knew a way to encourage her friends. “Don’t worry, we’ll be able to do it. We managed to find more help than we needed, so this mission shouldn’t be too bad.” 

“You may be right…but—what about the camps? The security measures are literally ten times worse than before. There might be heavily armed guards everywhere now.” Jihan really did have a good point. 

“And that’s what we trained for. I could move things from further distances than usual because my mind is clearer, if that makes sense.” 

“Yeah, Soojin unnie is right.” Monday agreed, nodding her head. “This team can do anything.”

After a brief moment of thinking, the girls lightened up, feeling more motivated. “I’m in! Should we meet up with Ruann now?” Jiyoon asked. 

Shortly afterwards, May led the way towards the old radio station where some Greens and Golds were helping her locate the specific area that the person had sent their message from. So far, there was nothing, despite how hard they tried to solve the puzzle, even May herself was having issues. While the girls sat down by a large round table waiting for Ruann, Zoa decided to help with finding the signal. She took her seat by a radio before pressing some buttons and tuning in on the frequency, then squinted at their radar. However, nothing popped up like she expected. “Hm. Something’s jamming the connection….”

Then May gasped. “That would explain why their message was so glitchy.” 

“Yeah. We should figure out what kind of satellite they were trying to use, then perhaps it’ll be easier to decode it’s programming and locate their campsite.” 

“Wait, like a military base satellite?? They’ll find us if we try to connect to it.” 

“Don’t worry, they won’t. I configured our router’s software so that it’s not detectable by anything outside of town...hopefully.” 

“Wow…you’re a genius! I don’t think that’s ever been done before.” 

Zoa chuckled and shyly rubbed her neck. “Thanks. It’s no big deal. We’ll see a lot of possible connections on here after finding some satellites, but when comparing them with this frequency formula,” she wrote it on the white board, displaying it for everyone to gaze at, “we can find their location.” With that being said, everyone immediately got to work as fast as they could. 

“That’s so cool! You really are like Albert Einstein, maybe even smarter.” 

“I-it’s just what I do.” Zoa nervously laughed before rejoining her friends at the round table.

“Oooo look at the new popular girl.” Monday teased as everyone giggled at the joke while the younger girl playfully rolled her eyes. 

“Let’s just get on with the meeting please.” 

Ruann nodded before finally starting. “I’m sure you all are aware of the problem we’re facing right now. I feel like it’s best to have one person from every category of power: one Green, Blue, Gold, Orange, and Red.” Soeun and Jiyoon glanced at each other, then back to her.

“How exactly will this work?” Soojin asked curiously, which was when Ruann laid out a piece of paper full of her ideas. 

“Since security measures are much heavier than before, we’ll need to be as stealthy as possible, which means mistakes cannot be tolerated. Our weaponry storage in the police station currently holds ten handguns, fifteen machine guns, twenty pocket knives, eighteen batons, nine bulletproof vests, and dozens of grenades, so to be safe, we should take some. The Greens worked together to create silent engines and motors, so we’ll be able to get that campsite quietly. Once we find and look at its layout, our plan will be complete. Then after that, we just execute it.” 

“Hm…so did either you, May or Lucy agree to go?” Zoa asked.

“I-I’d rather stay. I don’t wanna go anywhere near those places….” May quickly opted out, which everyone understood wholeheartedly. 

“Lucy and I are coming along.” 

“Then I guess I’ll go, too.” 

“Wait—” Soojin was about to object, but then Jiyoon interrupted. 

“Do I actually have to go? I feel like my powers will only cause a mess.” 

“Don’t worry, we’re not going till everyone’s trained and ready.” Ruann reassured, though that didn’t really seem to enlighten their responses.

“Alright…if you say so.” 

Soeun nodded. “I’ll do my best.” 

“W-wait. I know you only need one Blue, but is it alright if I come, too?” 

Ruann and May looked at each other to decide, then the younger girl just shrugged. “Sure! Honestly, the more help, the merrier.”

Afterwards, the girls continued discussing for the whole day in order to ensure their safe return. This definitely went well as everyone pitched in with their ideas and specific techniques, like disguising as a soldier to sneak around, even better since Lucy, Monday and Soeun were the tallest, thus, both could easily walk around without being suspected. And if the military were to find this out, they’ll definitely start distrusting their own teammates and turn against one another, which would be a grand sight to see. Through meticulous plots, they pinpointed what the most important tasks were, then laid them out in sequential order. This went on for hours and as more and more conclusions popped up, the girls became quite confident with their plan. Then even better, the Greens in the radio station finally discovered the specific location of the campsite. Now, it was game time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys have any comments, pls do share 🥺


	20. Scouting

**Three days later.**

Breakfast was made with smaller portions this time, since there wasn’t much to cook with. No complaints had been uttered as the kids went with it and understood the food shortage situation. After that, morning routines deviated from the norm; everyone woke up early and determined, then soon got to training once more, aiming to hone their abilities to the fullest. Some still passed out from overexerting, but many others were still standing strong. Blues moved larger objects like mere feathers, while Golds began to harvest electrical currents in their hands with more ease. Greens, on the other hand, just became borderline galaxy brains, which helped with the training. As they documented the processes down, it was simpler to figure out how to better manage the Blues and Golds’ recovery period. Once Zoa had given directions on detecting the specific location of the mysterious person’s message, many Greens looked to her for advice, help with radio stuff, etc. She was like the leader of their group and had no idea how to feel about that. The girls encouraged her to be some sort of mentor for them, to which Zoa reluctantly agreed. Soon enough, Ruann basically appointed her as the ‘mayor’ of town, and as great as that may have sounded, she definitely wasn’t looking forward to dealing with making difficult decisions for everyone. That particular stress only bloomed when  _ thirty _ new kids arrived in town three days ago, after having heard of the girls’ radio message. 

Other than that, Soeun and Jiyoon were also training on their own at the beach, with the help of their friends, of course. They tested out many techniques for them to try, for example, seeing how far Jiyoon’s fiery trail of flames could travel. Zoa taught her breathing exercises, which actually worked out as Jiyoon was able to exhale a blazing path that stretched out another half a mile, her monstrous roaring of an actual flamethrower being much louder as well. The girls were her cheerleading squad, shouting in joy whenever something new was accomplished. Later in the day Soeun decided to test out her powers on some kids. She hid behind buildings and far enough away so that she couldn’t be spotted. Her friends were casually hanging around to seem less suspicious as they waited for something to happen. The first thing Soeun did was mind control a random Green who was busy tending some crops, before slipping into a blank state, dropping all of her tools on the dirt. Other kids around immediately grew confused, trying to shake the girl out of it. As her eyes turned bright orange, Soeun quickly made her think about watering the plants, as they began drying up, just like Zoa advised. She then slipped out of the girl’s mind, then watched the kids being told to grab their watering pots. The rest chuckled at how Soeun easily made all of that happen.

“That was so cool!” Soojin exclaimed while holding her hand, while Monday added on.

“Keep up that mind power and you’ll be like Emma Frost.” 

“She’s a villain though.” Jaehee corrected.

“I know that, I meant like she’ll be as powerful as her, but as a hero instead.” 

“‘A hero?” Soeun raised an eyebrow as Soojin practically swooned. 

“You’d be totally amazing as a superhero! Saving the world and all that cool stuff.” 

The younger girl faintly blushed, but tried to hide it with a cough. “T-thanks.” 

Zoa playfully rolled her eyes at them. “Cringey couple things aside, why don’t we all take a break for the day? Need to get as much rest before the time comes.”

“Ruann unnie is initiating the mission tomorrow, right?” Jihan asked to make sure as they all nodded. Jaehee was also worried, questioning her friends some more. 

“You guys have everything prepared?” 

“Yes, you two just have to worry about protecting our house.” Monday informed the kids, but Jiyoon didn’t let go of one important task. 

“Please do not eat all of my chips like last time, Lays are very essential to survival!” 

“Ok, ok we promise.” The two giggled as Jihan answered. 

“Anywho, let’s hang out at the carnival again. You guys  _ have _ to try the new pinball machine.” Monday asked.

“W-wait, that life-sized one??” Soojin stared in shock. 

“Yeah, that one! It’s really fun, trust me. Once you get used to it at least.”

Truth be told, by the time they all got inside the gladiator-like arena, many other kids were already crowding and watched from above. The girls looked gazed down at the bottom pit as everyone cheered on. Since the game didn’t allow any power uses, the player had to manually move the enormous flippers, hitting back a giant beach ball that Greens had crafted for this. He did his best to keep it from slipping through, earning lots of points along the way, until the inevitable happened. The player wasn’t fast enough this time, thus the flippers didn’t hit the ball back before getting past them. Everyone ‘awed’, having rooted for him about an hour now, so seeing the player lose was like losing the game themselves. Shortly afterwards, May walked up to the microphone booth to announce the next person in line to play the game. And to Soeun and Soojin’s surprise, Yedam appeared behind the curtains as the crowd cheered on for him. They quickly, but subtly scowled at the boy as he got ready to move the pinballs. About several minutes later, the crowd cheered even louder for him since he turned out to be really good at the game. His friend group constantly hyped Yedam up nonstop, which earned concerned side eyes from other kids. But this ended as quickly as it started when the whistle abruptly sounded to stop the game. Everyone in the building grew confused and wondered what was wrong until one of the referee’s shouted.

“He’s using his powers!” Shocked gasps and murmurs immediately erupted around, while some loudly accused Yedam of cheating. 

May shook her head in disappointment. She knew there had to be a reason why Yedam was too good at pinball. “Disqualified!” 

“Wh—wait! I didn't use my powers at all! Honest!” 

“The game is being projected, wise guy. How can you explain this then?” Another referee pointed towards a giant television screen, clearly displaying Yedam using telekinesis to control the flippers in slow motion. All of the kids around him and his friends collectively booed, ordering him off the stage. He could only scowl, hanging his head down in embarrassment before disappearing behind the curtains. 

“Sorry, everyone, for the short round. This will conclude our game time for now, we’ll be back tomorrow.”

May sighed, then put her mic away as the rest of the referees followed her. Everyone exited the building while talking amongst themselves. The girls simply shrugged at this and decided to head towards the radio station, while Jihan and Jaehee decided to go home. There, Ruann was currently jotting down notes in her book from the white board, to keep it as a reminder. Upon seeing them entering, she had them all sit at the round table like last time. They went over the various individual tasks one more time using a layout of the whole camp, where to go and regroup at, and most importantly, where to hide bodies. Things were going smoothly and soon everyone decided to hang out, discussing random topics that came to mind. Eventually, the girls began talking amongst themselves as Jiyoon, Monday and Ruann were drawing everywhere on the board, May and Zoa looking at the radar together, while Soeun and Soojin were still sitting at the table. They had plenty of time to do whatever now before the big day tomorrow. That is, until the news caught someone’s attention as one of the Greens rushed inside the radio station declaring there was trouble. And truth be told, headlines everywhere reported about all of the camps forming into one so then no more kids could be able to escape. In other words, this was going to happen tomorrow morning, which meant the girls had to head out for their mission  _ now. _

“You’re kidding!” Ruann exclaimed in frustration, followed by everyone else. 

“Man, it’s gonna take us hours to get to this person’s camp, I’m gonna be tired as hell by the time I arrive.” Monday slumped on her chair. 

“Hey, we don’t have to worry too much. This plan was just looked over multiple times so we’ll be fine as long as it’s followed. Also the cars found a few days ago have been modified to allow for and withstand greater acceleration, so we might arrive at their camp in just about an hour.” Zoa informed them as they nodded their heads agreeing.

“Oh yeah! She’s right, Monday and I finished testing out these engines on one of the vans, not gonna lie, that thing is ridiculously fast.” Jiyoon said excitedly as May added on. 

“Also, I gave our weapons some enhancements, more so now our batons are concealing daggers. Best of all, the machines fire at higher, more dangerous speeds and travel longer distances.” May boasted. 

“Then what are we waiting for girls? Let’s get this done!”

Ruann declared as they all nodded, hastily skating towards the police station to put on their gear. Telling everyone in town was difficult, especially Jihan and Jaehee, since they didn’t want them to leave out of fear. After hearing the news though, things were taken to a whole new level of dire. If the military had peaked, what could exceed their cruelty? The kids were in disbelief watching the news reporting peers being dragged, shoved, and essentially ragdolled everywhere by soldiers, who didn’t have an ounce of remorse left in them. At the center of the town was the plaza where they’d set up a gigantic television, which most of them gathered around to hear. Many held each other while viewing the horror unfold, their happy expressions morphed into scorns and frowns within seconds. News anchors talked about this as if it was the daily weather, as if it was  _ normal _ to them. Even simple adults couldn’t give a single crap about this nightmare, all because they were able to live their lives. At home, Jihan and Jaehee were in the living room, watching from the TV while embracing each other. A lone tear left the younger girl’s eye; not only was she worried about the ones already suffering, but also her friends who were going back to help them. Who knew what kind of strict security measures the soldiers set up? Just imagining it sent chills down everyone’s spine. Thankfully, the crew was done with putting on their bullet proof vests and ear pieces. After making sure they had everything to bring along, it was time to go at last. Many kids from town came to their SWAT truck to bid them a safe journey.

“Thank you, everyone. We promise to return with more friends, as well as rations to refill our stocks. Please take care of yourselves and look out for each other. We will return before you know it.”

Ruann announced before hopping inside with everyone else. Getting the cue, Soeun started the truck, which zoomed out of the gate and back into the outside world. The vehicle was faster than she was used to, but she got the hang of it. Soojin sat in the passenger seat to keep her company, which Soeun greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, Ruann, Jiyoon, Monday and Zoa all stayed in the back where they kept in contact with May, Lucy and the other kids who were going to help check their locations. All of six of them kept trackers to monitor where they would go on the camp’s map. After driving for some time, Soojin decided to turn on the radio, constantly switching channels until reaching another news report. She then opened the small window behind her so then her friends could hear as they leaned in. It was more live reporting that revealed the military was going to gather children soon, thus Soeun quickly stomped the gas pedal. If they were going to save as many lives as possible, the truck needed to be there soon. Soojin clung to her seatbelt while placing a hand on Soeun’s shoulder to calm her down. The others were screaming at the sudden speed, or well, just Jiyoon and Zoa as they fell to the ground, clinging to each other. Ruann and Monday gripped the side bars, silently viewing from the window as Soeun traveled at reckless speeds. Ten minutes later, she finally slowed down upon seeing more light up ahead, stopping about three miles from the campsite so they wouldn’t get spotted by cameras. Everyone hopped out of the SWAT truck before tiptoeing into a forest and crouching down in large bushes.

Zoa looked through her phone to message May about their arrival, who informed her that the place was filled to the brim with CCTV. Therefore, they were going to take some time to disable the feed, making it look like some type of outage. “Ok, there’s like five cameras at the gate. Destroying them means we have to find a wire that connects all of them together.” 

“Should we split up individually or go in small groups?”

“Groups sound good, I’ll go with Ruann unnie.” Zoa said. 

Afterwards, the crew separated to help search for hidden wires around the somewhat large forest. They might have been underestimating them too much, but judging by how they failed to keep kids in these prison camps, what made them think they could hide wire? This was proven true when Soojin tripped over it, Soeun catching her before she hit the ground. After the rest were notified, they followed it to make sure the wire was indeed connected to the cameras. “Wait, isn’t the outer shell made out of rubber?” Soojin asked.

“Yeah.” 

“Then how will Monday disable it?”   


“Don’t worry.” Zoa bent down to check the texture. She was sure that just by sight, it was a different kind and her suspicions were confirmed after feeling the wire. “This type of rubber is the manufactured ones to specifically conduct electricity.” 

“That’s pretty bizarre.” Soeun marveled, but felt relieved.

Ruann smiled in joy. “Wanna do the honors then, Monday?” 

The older girl smirked in amusement. “Don’t mind if I do.” She grabbed the rubber string, then her eyes glowed a bright gold color as electricity crackled through it. Soon enough, the cameras all shorted out, powering down when the surge hit them. 

“Awesome! May just disabled the cameras by the back exits as well, so now we need to find some soldiers for Monday and Soeun.” 

“We can handle that, you guys go on ahead.” 

“Yeah we’ll cover.” Both of them then approached the back door, being as careful as possible, while everyone else hid behind a large dumpster. Without wasting anymore time, Soeun mind controlled them, allowing them to be electrocuted and pass out. Afterwards, the two quickly changed in porta potties, then walked out in soldier gear minutes later. The others reappeared, impressed by their quick actions. 

“Not bad, you two.”

“Thanks! These things feel kind of heavy though.”

“We’ll manage.” Soeun said. 

“Alright, let’s do our tasks, guys. Everyone at home depends on us.” 

They all nodded before going their separate ways, or at least they were about to. Soeun and Soojin had a moment to themselves before splitting up again. “Hey. Stay safe, ok? Monday and I will catch up with you right after we’re done..” 

“We will, too. Please be careful.” Soojin placed a soft kiss on her cheek, then rushed off with Jiyoon.

Soeun stood there frozen once more, blushing like a tomato until Monday snapped her out of it. “Come on you simp, we have work to do.” She chuckled.

Just like any other camps, this one was practically a maze, numerous corridors of bolted rooms and labs. Additionally, as stated from the news, soldiers filled the perimeter, guarding every corner of the prison. There was almost too much roaming around, making for a crowded area. Despite this seeming like some setback to their plan, Zoa and Ruann were still able to hide in unlocked rooms, using a keycard they took after knocking out a soldier. Upon finding the locker room, they disguised themselves and a second later, Soojin messaged Zoa to inform her that she and Jiyoon just reached their temporary spot. On cue, a noise blared in the distance, luring all soldiers towards it, giving the two a chance to dash towards the electricity room without any surveillance spotting them. Once inside, Ruann let Zoa tamper with things while she guarded the door. The younger girl hastily unloaded her backpack, fishing out many tools to disable the prison’s alarm. After doing tense research on all of the camps, there was one unifying factor: keeping the alarm’s functions in the electric room. Zoa clipped all of the right wires, before testing it by pressing the large red button. To her relief, nothing happened and they were finally safe without having to worry too much. 

Meanwhile, all of the soldiers were busy sprinting to the sound Soojin had caused by knocking down a locker. Thankfully, both her and Jiyoon escaped through the vents right before getting caught. Two men barged into the room they were in, searching around for only a few minutes, then getting shoved towards walls and knocked out cold. From the ceiling, she high fived Jiyoon as they continued on to the cafeteria. It didn’t take long before arriving at the storage room and hopped down inside, quickly peeking out of the door to see if anyone was guarding. After seeing no one, the two walked out searching for something that would complete their mischievous prank. Jiyoon gasped aloud after finding gallons of it in the cupboards as Soojin helped her take all of them out. They both poured the contents into enormous metal pots, then the younger girl turned on the mic to make an announcement with the most professional voice she could pull off.

“All soldiers. Please report to the cafeteria.”

Hastily getting everything set and ready, many burst through doors, looking around to see who’d used the speakers. Then without further ado, Soojin poured the giant pot of oil over them, causing the soldiers to slip and slide everywhere. But that wasn’t all they’d planned. Shortly after, Soojin levitated large bags of flour just to add the toppings. Seeing these monsters struggle was hilarious, but they were sure to not laugh too loud before quickly running back inside the cold storage room, grabbing a ladder to help boost them up to the vents again. Making sure no would be able to follow them, Soojin tore it apart and left pieces of the ladder behind like trash. Now their next plan was to go into the lab to fetch some things for their town, then wait in the weapons room for everyone else. Meanwhile, Monday and Soeun were pretending to be on duty, mindlessly walking around as the older girl subtly shorted out several security cameras. During their ‘patrolling’, Soeun had used her powers to manipulate the captains to turn against their own teammates, then head into the camera room to shut it down completely. And right on time, all CCTV turned off permanently in ten minutes after Jiyoon and Soojin pulled their stunt. While the rest were kept busy, the captains would then bare the cafeteria doors, not letting a single soul out. However, if one were to somehow slip through, Soeun made sure they didn’t escape alive, effectively keeping the soldiers in check: exactly like how their sorry asses treated these poor kids. Speaking of which, it was about time Zoa and Ruann finally reached the security room to poke around. After finding what they were looking for, all it took was a flick of the switch, simultaneously unlocking every single cell door. Both of them arrived in time to see many confused peers glancing around, amused when they immediately became shocked after laying eyes on the two.

Ruann carefully stepped forward. “Greetings, my friends and I are here to save you guys. Please tell me who sent us a message crying for help.” The kids looked behind them as a tall, lanky boy in a green prison suit cautiously approached to center. 

“D-did you get my name?” 

“Sort of. It stopped at ‘Ji’ and everything else glitched out.” Zoa informed, which made him perk up. 

“That’s me! My name is Jisung. I’m so glad to see you guys! I honestly didn’t think anyone outside of here would get the message.”

“It’s a fine, noble thing you did, my friend. All of the kids here are lucky to have you.”

“T-thanks….” Jisung blushed slightly at the compliment.

“How many kids are here?”

“About eighty.” 

Holy crap. “Then that would increase our town population to a hundred and seventy seven.” Zoa marveled as Ruann smiled.

“My team and I are currently in the middle of tearing this camp apart. Would you all like to join us in this revolution?” Immediately, all of them shouted in agreement, more excited than ever to finally be able to free. “Then let’s all gather in the weapons room, everyone is going to need as much protection as possible to fend for themselves. Follow me.”

Like herded sheep, the kids marched towards the designated location, being even more glad to see Jiyoon and Soojin waiting, both of whom were equally excited upon seeing all of them. Hearing Ruann’s encouragement, the kids grabbed their own machine guns and bullet proof vests, now ready to protect themselves. Now they just needed to head towards the parking lot where the buses were, which was where Monday and Soeun would meet up with them. After manipulating some soldiers to guard the outer perimeters, they made sure no reinforcements were called, forcing them to tell their buddies from a different base that everything was just fine. While the two guarded the front doors to the camp, a particular knock let them know that it was their friends. Upon seeing Soojin again, Soeun quickly took her helmet and smiled at the older girl before embracing her tightly. On the other hand, Monday and Jiyoon excitedly hugged each other as well, making playfully Zoa roll her eyes at these four idiots.

“Alright, guys. Now let's get out of here.” Ruann agreed. 

“Yeah. We need to find a bus that has a key in it.” With that being said, everyone quickly helped with searching, peeking through every window. Well, almost everyone. When Soeun turned around and made eye contact with Jisung, they both immediately scowled at each other in a comical shock. 

_ “YOU!” _ The two shouted simultaneously, which no one surprisingly noticed. 

“What the hell are  _ you _ doing here?!” Soeun exclaimed. 

“I could ask the same to you, asshole!”

Soojin was utterly bewildered by this abrupt tension between them. “Uh…you know him?” 

“Yeah, that thing is my cousin.” 

“Be a little more dramatic, why don’t you?” 

“Don’t think that because I’m here to save your dumbass means I forgive you.”

Jisung was offended.  _ “‘Forgive me’?? _ You started it!”

“Did not! I wasn’t the one who made you slip during the competition.”

“Oh, but you did. Which is why you’ve yet to declare that  _ I’m  _ a better dancer than you.”

“Oh, but I don’t. Know why? Because I’m better than you!” 

This escalated to an unrelated topic within seconds and Soojin had no idea what to do at all. Thankfully, Ruann heard their banter and broke them up. “Do I need to kick both of your asses? Because I will if I have to. Lives are at stake, so we have more pressing matters than this pointless bickering.”

As Ruann walked away, Soeun turned back to Jisung, still glaring at him. “This isn’t over yet. When we get back to my town, you  _ best _ behave accordingly.” 

“Like you’ve ever listened to what I say.” 

“Like she said, lives are at stake. Either help or stay behind.”

Soeun and Soojin walked away before Jisung could say anything in return, thus a scowl remained. Minutes later, Jiyoon shouted for everyone’s attention, finally discovering that still had a key. Excited, all of the kids hastily boarded inside with Monday being the designated driver. She and Jiyoon decided to take all of the kids back to town first, which prompted everyone else to meet them there after stealing another cargo truck full of food from the city. Since this had already been done before, Ruann determined that this was certainly going to be easy, so if they’re lucky enough, the crew would be able to take two cargos back home. They all nodded agreeing before hopping inside the SWAT truck, with Soojin driving this time as Soeun sat in the passenger seat. In the back, Jisung got to know Ruann and Zoa more, learning about their powers, the town, their friends, etc. The three made jokes here and there to lighten up the mood, easing the bottling stress after a long night. This went on for about half an hour until Soojin parked two miles away from a food supermarket. And to their great luck, two trucks were just pulling into the back parking lot as the drivers hopped out to speak with other employees inside the building, thus leaving their vehicles quite vulnerable. The crew sought their opportunity while it was loose, as Zoa and Soojin snuck up to a fuze box, tampering with the wires which shut off the security camera in the sight. Soeun peeked through the door slightly, enough to hear the two men wanting to show someone the food cargo, thus telling the others to hurry. Ruann and Jisung ripped off the license plates, then checked inside to see just how much food there was. Their eyes practically grew in size, almost tearing up seeing so much rations. They both hopped into the cargo trucks, starting them up and peeling out of the parking lot just as quickly as it'd arrived. Then with that, the others wasted no more time to rush back into their vehicle, speeding close behind her. Immediately right after, the same previous driver and his supervisor walked out of the door to see the food cargo for themselves…only there was nothing. He'd been in the middle of talking and was cut immediately upon seeing that his truck disappeared. She simply looked at him like he was some kind of lunatic, adjusting her glasses before speaking.

“‘A brand new cargo’, you say?”

“I-i-it was just—right  _ here!” _

“That’s great, maybe the police will believe you.” Poor guy was not getting a promotion after this.


	21. Party

Boisterous cheers erupted once the cargo arrived in town as everyone crowded around. The new kids were still taking time to adjust, though they didn’t take up much space. Tonight however, it was needless to worry because all they wanted to do was celebrate this victory. From successfully breaking into a camp to hijacking two semis, who would’ve thought the girls could pull that off? A while later, everyone worked together to sort out the rations inside their supermarket. At the moment, there weren’t any currencies involved, so the way distribution worked was kids lined up and got what was needed.The friendly environment truly helped bring them all together. 

After the girls’ success, tonight called for a celebration so what better way to do that than hold yet another concert? Jiyoon, Monday and Zoa quickly set up their equipment back in the roller skating rink, but this time, the trio decided to finally try out the DJ booth that they’d renovated not too long ago. The sound was still a little subpar, but that seemed to be the trend these days, thus, they simply shrugged before wheeling it out on stage. Everyone was already hanging out around the rink, many talking amongst their friend group, some doing acrobatic stunts, and others mindlessly surfing the internet. Monday turned on her mic to get all of their attention, causing the kids to flood the skating rink and crowd in front of the stage. She asked if they were ready to party, earning cheers and applause as Jiyoon cranked up her guitar. Afterwards, Zoa switched on her booth, then tested out a sequential beat that everyone seemed to like. To the trio’s astonishment, the kids screamed even more. The band just covered whatever songs they could think of at that point, since they didn’t really need to hype their audience up. Either way, the night was extremely fun as celebration carried on like no other. And well…maybe it was too much fun. Next morning arrived before anyone expected. While the other girls had already gone home, the trio somehow managed to sleep through the whole evening on stage. Jiyoon cuddled with her guitar, thinking it was a person. Monday snored away in dreamland as her arm and leg dangled by the edge, while Zoa simply created a makeshift bed on the DJ booth. Thankfully, they weren’t alone since the roller skating rink held many who had passed out. They slept soundly on desks and the floor, not exactly ideal but the weariness really caught up by the middle of the night.

Soojin wasn’t all too surprised when she came back inside to find her sister and friends, but never did she expect to see them still on stage. After giggling and taking some pictures, she finally woke the trio up. “I can’t believe you guys had been here this whole time. I knew there had to be a reason you weren’t in your rooms.” 

“Ugh…what time is it?” Monday drowsily asked. 

“Almost 9am.”

“Oh hey, that’s not too bad. I used to sleep past one all the time.” Jiyoon chuckled as Soojin rolled her eyes. 

“Come on, I made everyone breakfast at home.” 

“Don’t tell me we have to walk back….” 

“You have to if you want to try some fluffy pancakes.” 

They all looked at each other, then back at her as Zoa responded. “Say less.” 

The trek back to their house wasn’t too hard, though they still clung onto each other so as to not fall over. Soon enough, the girls arrived at the front door and Monday yawned while Soojin led them into the kitchen. “These pancakes better be worth…….” 

The sentence trailed off and her eyes grew wide in shock. Jiyoon and Zoa, on the other, couldn’t help but gasp when they saw the delicious breakfast. Soojin merely laughed at their reactions. “The restock really did us all a favor. Now we can have fancy homemade breakfast for days.”

“This is awesome!” Monday exclaimed, hurriedly taking a seat to dig in. “You’re truly the best chef there is, unnie.” She complimented, making the older girl slightly blush. 

“Thanks, but I had help.” Soojin smiled at Soeun, who returned the gesture before they both joined their friends.

“I’m so glad you guys are finally home, it’d been so lonely since you left for that mission.” Jihan said. 

“Aw, but we were only gone for a day.” Jiyoon responded as Jaehee pouted. 

“Still though…it felt like our parents left to go to work, so it was just us two at home.” Neither her or Jihan noticed, but everyone  _ immediately _ froze upon hearing that sentence. Soeun nearly choked on her orange juice before desperately looking at the others. What the hell were they going to do if they asked about that night?

“U-uh, don’t worry too much. We’re home now a-and—maybe we can have another movie night?” Zoa quickly blurted out, which easily led the two kids away from the topic. 

“Sure! I’d be fine with anything as long as we all get to hang out.” Jihan smiled while having a mouth full of pancakes. 

Right then and there, Soojin nearly had a panic attack because she instinctively grabbed Soeun’s hand in the speed of light. The younger girl returned the contact, silently thanking Zoa, who subtly nodded in return. Monday and Jiyoon sighed in relief, momentarily glancing at each other before finishing their breakfast. A few minutes later when everyone was almost done, Jaehee spoke up once again. “Oh! I forgot to tell you guys this.” 

“What is it?” Zoa asked.

“This guy, um…what was his name?” 

“I think it was Yedam.” Jihan answered for her. 

“Wait, that same guy who cheated at the pinball game the other day?” Jiyoon raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, him.” This was certainly a sudden turn of events. 

Soeun frowned deeply. “What did he do?” 

“He actually came to our doorsteps yesterday afternoon,” Jaehee continued, “and said that he wanted to see Soojin unnie.” 

“Yeah. I don’t know, he was being kinda weird about it.”

“Mhm, very adamant, too.” 

Now everyone’s attention was on Soojin. “Do you know him?” Monday questioned, feeling quite confused. 

“Not really, but…while Soeun and I were hanging out at the carnival one day, he just came up to me and said I was ‘too cute to be alone’ or something.” The girls instantly grimaced. 

“What the heck??” Jiyoon was rather mortified. “He clearly does not know how to get girls to like him.” 

“He asked for my name and then proceeded to declare us friends after that. It got even weirder when his buddies crowded behind him.” 

“That’s really strange.” Zoa snarled thinking how someone could just talk like that to her sister. “If he ever does anything else, please let us know.” 

“Thank you guys. Soeun was there to save me from talking to him any longer.” 

“Oooh, knight in shining armor, huh?” Monday playfully teased to lighten up the mood, which worked since the girls immediately laughed, even Soeun herself. 

“I’m assuming you wanted to punch him square in the face to impress the damsel in distress?” Jiyoon smirked, unintentionally rhyming. 

“I still do.” She shrugged before getting up and washing her plate at the sink.

Later in the day, the girls decided to head towards the crowded arcade for fun, even more so when they saw Lucy and May fighting zombies together before cheering them on. Ever since the place had been renovated, it practically grew ten times festive just after weeks. Many had tried the trampolines, bot fights, the ‘shopping cart race’ and definitely more. Everything else was just classic arcade games from the 80s and 90s, which they didn’t really complain about since the fun was still there. The kids worked together to reprogram some consoles so now instead of the usual two players, there were now four to five at most. Thanks to Ruann’s past missions, a huge projector came quite handy. It displayed an enormous screen for everyone to see the players either battle against each other on competitive puzzle games, or teaming up to shoot aliens and zombies. Other than that, the arcade was the best place for having fun with friends, as well as easing stress. Soeun, May, Jihan and Jiyoon all teamed up to power through some epic boss fight, taking down every villain standing in their way. It was funny how invested they were since the girls couldn’t help but shout whenever they got injured or killed in the game. Ruann, May and Lucy, as well as a crowd of kids, were amused by this and ended up watching the whole time as the girls played. After every boss fight wins, the kids would erupt in a cheers and applause, which motivated them to continue. Soojin, Jaehee and Zoa were sitting in a safe distance, feeling quite astonished their friends attracted lots of attention. Honestly at this point, it was to be expected since they were getting quite popular around town. The three talked amongst each other, bringing up whatever topic interested them, before continuing to watch their friends beat the game.

“You think maybe we could try some games out for ourselves?” Soojin asked while looking around. “Oh, maybe the trampolines?”

“It’s been hogged for days now. Many kids just seem to like it I guess.” Jaehee responded while pouting, having hoped that one day, she and the girls would be able to have fun with those, but the universe really wasn’t on their side for that. 

“Well, there’s the counter that serves drinks and food, wanna go get some?” They both nodded at Zoa’s suggestion before heading there all together. Low and behold…there sure were some interesting things on the menu. But whoever came up with this was rather creative with it in an amusing way. Soojin settled for a drink called Blueberry Sea Salt Wave, basically a smoothie that was lightly seasoned with white chocolate and sea salt, while Jaehee chose something called ‘Fish Guts’ for funsies, which was just sushi and sashimi. And lastly, Zoa picked ‘Supernova’, an egg dish with habanero pepper.

To Soojin’s surprise, the waiter was Jisung, who had others help him make the dishes and beverages. “Order up!” He shouted behind before assisting them in the back. Only minutes later, he comes back with a tray full of delicious dishes and so forth.

“Did you come up with these yourself?” Jaehee asked, still starstruck by the dishes. 

“Yeah! My friends helped me, too.” 

“You must’ve been a culinary arts student before.” Zoa remarked while recalling certain parts of the designs from cooking shows. Jisung blushed at the compliments, shyly rubbing his neck. 

“I was, actually. I hope you guys will enjoy, we put a lot into these.”

After saying their thanks, the two kids dug in, gasping at the delicious taste. As they remained distracted, Soojin quickly stopped Jisung to talk. “Wait, can I ask you a few questions? If you’re not too busy.” 

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” 

“What’s your relationship to Soeun?” She asked out of curiosity, then slightly frowned when Jisung scowled upon hearing her name. 

“I hate to say it, but she’s my cousin. We stopped talking years ago after she made me trip and fall during one of our dance competitions.” 

“How did that happen?” 

“I found her handkerchief under my shoe. I should’ve known she would’ve done crap like that. We never got along as kids anyways.”

“So, how do you know Soeun did that?” 

“That asshole hoped I would fail the dance competition and didn’t even need to make that anymore obvious.” Jisung shook his head while recalling the memories, which only made Soojin more confused. 

“When exactly was this competition?” 

“Last year.” 

“Hm…well, that’s still pretty recent. I’m sure she wouldn’t have done that on purpose as far as I know.” 

“Of course she did! Once you truly get to know her, she’s the devil.” 

“Maybe it was just a misunderstanding, if you would consider it? Did she explain anything about that incident?” 

“Or rather, came up with some bullshit lie and said it fell out of her pocket. Yeah, right.” Jisung then flung a towel over his shoulder. “Sorry, but if you’ll excuse me now, I have to get back to work.”

He left shortly after without waiting for her to say anything else, leaving her there pondering how to bring this up to Soeun later. With music filling the whole place, Zoa and Jaehee didn’t hear their conversation, mindlessly scrolling through their phones for any updates in the media. Soojin sighed while taking small bites. She’d somehow lost her appetite within minutes after her conversation with Jisung. Knowing Soeun, she didn’t want to believe anything bad he said about her, so much so that even just thinking the younger girl could be evil made her feel lightheaded. Taking a deep breath, Soojin decided to go to the bathroom and told the two kids she’ll be back soon. Once inside a stall, she sat there for several moments while scrolling through her phone, hoping it would serve as an adequate distraction. The news these days had grown boring and less interesting to sit through. Social media didn’t take the cake either, many users simply complaining about their lives having little rainbows and sunshine, longing for some form of happiness. Soojin could only chuckle at the terrible acting skills on display from clips she watched online. She didn’t realize how long she’d been staying inside after receiving a text message from Zoa, asking where the older girl was. Soojin quickly left the bathroom to rejoin them, until someone grabbed her elbow to stop her.

“Hey there! Aren’t you that girl Yedam wanted to talk to yesterday?” A tall boy asked her, smirking. His expression was unreadable, but she was nonetheless creeped out. 

“What are you—”

“Yo, Yedam!” When he called that guy over, Soojin’s heart dropped before yanking her arm away from the boy’s grasp. 

In no time, Yedam arrived in her presence, followed by the rest of his group. “Hi! I’ve been looking for you.” 

“W-what do you want…?” 

“Just wanna talk. And—listen, about the other day in the carnival, I didn’t mean to seem like some weirdo hittin’ on ya.” He smiled while ‘apologizing’, which didn’t make it seem sincere. “But hey! I also heard you’re a Blue just like me. Now we can totally become closer friends. Wanna come hang out with us? We won’t bite at all, cutie.” 

“Yeah. You can stay for as long as you like.” One of his friends said.

Yedam rolled his eyes. “Shut the hell up, Yoshi.”

“No. And please don’t call me ‘cutie’.” As Soojin turned around to walk away, Yedam quickly stopped her by hastily grabbing her hand. She gasped fearfully at the sudden contact, instinctively trying to let go, but Yedam only gripped tighter.

“Come on, don’t be shy. Please ignore him and the others, you can just focus on me.”

“Hey, what’s going on?” A familiar voice behind them caught their attention. Soojin was in utter relief upon seeing Zoa. “Can you let go of my sister, please?” 

“‘Sister’? You both look nothing alike.” Yedam joked while chuckling, causing his group to laugh along. This only raised more tensions.

_ “Don’t  _ make her repeat herself.” Another voice spoke up, but everyone knew who that belonged to. “Are you going to let her go? Or should I do it for you?” Soeun menacingly glared at the boy as he instantly released Soojin’s hand, allowing her to back away behind her. 

“Uh…l-look, I didn’t mean any trouble….” He easily cowered under her scowl. 

“Do some stupid shit like this again, I’ll make sure you regret it.” Then, without another word, the girls turned around to rejoin their friends as he stood there shellshocked. 

Everyone else carefully approached behind him as Yoshi uttered. “Welp, that went well, don’t you think? She’s quite feisty in my opinion.” 

“Whatever. I’m gonna make her mine someday.”

For the remainder of the afternoon and night, it continued to remain festive as always. Everyone had a blast at the carnival with the random food vendors, roller coasters and other rides. Or, almost everyone. Soeun was sour during the group’s adventure around the area and even then, neither of them could ease her moodiness. Except maybe one person. Soojin clung to her arm for the entire time, every once in a while getting the younger girl’s attention. When they finally split up into their own groups, Soojin was determined to make Soeun happy. They both went on rides again and tried more food along the way, which definitely made her less sour. Afterwards, the two went on the ferris wheel like last time, holding hands as they sat down. Short conversations started and ended fairly quickly, but neither of them minded, instead enjoying the peaceful silence while Soojin leaned against Soeun’s shoulder. Soon enough, their cart had reached the highest level on the ferris wheel, allowing the two to see their town adorned by gorgeous lights.

“How are you feeling now, grumpy?” Soojin softly asked as the younger girl chuckled. 

“Less grumpier than before, thanks for asking.” 

“Did my charms do the trick?” She jokingly flipped her hair back with a hand and winked. 

Soeun scoffed, smiling. “You’re so cheesy.”

“But you like it!” 

“Yeah…really though, thanks. I think I need it after today.”

Soojin intertwined her hand with Soeun’s. “You saved me again…thanks for that, too.” 

“Of course.” 

“I was kind of surprised Zoa was there as well. I’ll be sure to thank her tomorrow.”

“Gonna make us more of those amazing breakfasts?”

“You know me.” Soojin giggled before sadly smiling. “When um….”

Soeun quickly noticed the mood change. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just—when that guy said Zoa and I didn’t look alike, it sort of brought back the memories.”

“Oh…I’m sorry, that must’ve been really sudden.”

“Yeah. People would always assume we were just friends o-or…even dating. I despise every comment saying that, it just hurts for some reason.”

“Hey, hey it’s ok. They just don’t know what it’s like to have different kinds of siblings. No matter what people say, you and Zoa are the exact definition of what a family is and should be. You’re probably the closest sisters I’ve ever met, and maybe the others could say the same thing.”

She smiled softly as her heart soared. “That means a lot, Soeunnie…thank you so much.”

“Not at all, Soojin.” Before neither of them knew it, they both slowly leaned in, eyes looking down at each other’s lips. And just when the two were about to kiss, the moment was interrupted when their cart’s door opened, which meant it was time to leave. They chuckled while doing so, still holding hands. “Well that didn’t end as I hoped it would.” This made Soojin burst out laughing.

“It’s ok, maybe another time.”

“Oh? ‘Another time’, you say?” 

“Yes, Park Soeun, another time.”

“Then I must assume you want to go on another date?” 

“Sure! We all don’t have to work for a while, so this week should be free.”

“Sounds nice. Wanna head home for a movie night?” 

“Mhm! But,” Soojin stopped them from walking anymore, “one more thing.” She then leaned in to peck her cheek. “Now we can go home.”

“Ah, just a sec.” 

“Hm? What is it?”

Soeun simply smiled. “One more thing.” Then returned the favor, kissing Soojin’s cheek as well. The older girl lightly gasped, still remaining surprised afterwards.  _ “Now _ we can go home.” And for once today, Soeun was finally happy.


	22. Rivals

The house was feeling more crowded than ever with everyone being home together. There was no need to worry about working or renovating more stuff by this point. While things remained peaceful for the time being, everyone continued their chores around the town. The newbies finally settled in their new homes at either the other motel or homes in a different neighborhood. They soon began helping around as well, doing their best to repay what the leaders did for them. In the meantime, most kids revisited the arcade, roller skating rink, basketball court and skate park, while everyone else made use of the other buildings. Others continued making more weapons at the police station, painting tons of murals at the small elementary school, and controlling the giant television in the plaza to project random commercials around the world, just to catch up on things. The town became more like a vibrant city, which brought back the feeling of home for everyone. A lot of kids were skating around the neighborhoods and riding around with bikes and skateboards on the roads since there wasn’t any need to use cars. Overall, things improved within weeks as they anticipated more arrivals, in case other kids heard the girls’ message outside the wall. Speaking of which, Soojin and Soeun were downstairs making pasta for breakfast while Monday and Jiyoon snored in the living room. Though pretty soon, the delicious scent attracted everyone into the kitchen for another delightful meal. Like always, the girls talked about the day that lied ahead of them. Other than that, nothing else was brought before the group split up to do their own thing, Zoa staying in the house alone. Monday and Jiyoon were going to the motor garage, Jihan and Jaehee went to do laundry, and lastly, Soojin and Soeun had another picnic at the beach. This time, however, the younger girl brought along a bike in case they wanted to explore around.

Soojin squealed the whole way as Soeun pedaled down a path, the adrenaline kicking in. She sped away with the older girl tightly clinging around her waist, laughing at how fun this date was already. It felt as though they were flying towards their destination, soon reaching the sandy beach at last. The two then settled under the shade of a large tree and ate their food. After a few hours, Soeun suddenly got up to get something in the distance, but told Soojin to close her eyes for the surprise. “Ok, you can open them now.” 

She immediately gasped at the large bouquet of roses before her, nearly moved to tears. “These are so beautiful! Thank you, Soeunnie.” Soojin embraced the younger girl tightly. “I’ll definitely plant these in our back garden.

“I’m glad you like them.” She responded shyly.

“I really enjoyed this date, it was nice like last time, maybe even better.” 

“I thought the same.” Soeun said honestly. “Are there any other places you want to visit after this?” 

“Hm…not really, I’m fine with anything.” 

“Oh, alright. Then, wanna ride around the beach?” 

“Sure!” After placing everything in the basket, Soojin hopped onto the bike behind Soeun, clinging onto her once again as she pedaled off, the waves occasionally splashing at them. They laughed while a cool wind breezed by, making their date all the more joyful. Soeun raced through some large stones and rocks, which was where the girls decided to take a short break to discover seashells. At one point, Soojin found a hermit crab sleeping, nearly disturbing its sleep. Another hour passed, so they agreed to go home at last. In conclusion, this was another successful date.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


Night time arrived in what felt like mere hours. Lots of kids gathered at the skating rink once more, socializing amongst each other while others gathered around for some sort of dance competition. The girls didn’t seem too interested in it and were hanging backstage while idly playing some instruments. Everyone constantly teased the two obvious lovebirds, though in all seriousness, were very glad they enjoyed the date this morning. Monday and Jiyoon were harmonizing while Zoa played her ukulele for them, with the addition of Jaehee helping record the samples for future tracks. Maybe one day they’ll release an album of their own. Soeun and Soojin enjoyed this, even occasionally joining in on the singing for once. They were pleasantly surprised that Soeun could sing so well, effortlessly hitting a note at one point, which really led them to convince her to join their band. Of course, she was hesitant at first, but promised to consider that possibility. Soeun then decided to take a small break and head to the bathroom, thus exiting out. A while later, while on her way back, the referee for the dance competition announced something that caught her attention.

“And the winner is Park Jisung!!” The crowd cheered.

Raising an eyebrow, Soeun carefully squeezed into the crowd to watch her craphead of a cousin battle against yet another opponent. Last thing she expected to see was Yedam being the other craphead. But in all honesty, she rooted for Jisung on this round. The rules were rather simple: one person went first, then the next dancer followed up. But when there’s freestyle, which is random at times, both of them would have to impress the crowd, so the winner was determined by their reactions. After the usual rock-paper-scissors match, Yedam danced first, doing the typical b-boy moves, somewhat attracting a few attention and acknowledgement. Jisung decided to play his own game and did the same thing, except being quicker and having greater fluidity, displaying years of experience beforehand, intriguing everyone and earning cheers all around. Yedam huffed in irritation, then pulled off some hip hop moves, gaining slightly more cheers than before. But even then, Jisung continued to have more support by easily executing difficult dance techniques that even professionals struggled with. Eventually, the announcer declared another round of freestyle. Yedam didn’t give up just yet and performed like no other, actually earning himself a decent crowd who cheered him on. Even with all this though, everyone knew Jisung was going to breeze through this. He outshined his opponent, turning up the intensity getting far more encores than Yedam. Soon enough, the announcer stopped them both to declare the winner, but that didn’t take him too long.

“Park Jisung, yet again!” 

His opponent slumped at the loss, but honestly agreed that the older dancer truly earned his rep around here. Yedam rejoined his friends, who applauded him for trying his best. Though shortly after as the clapping slowly died down, one person was still ‘applauding’. “Would you care for a battle with me?” 

He never grew so angry in his life.  _ “You!” _

“I'm not really asking for much, but if you're up for a challenge….” Soeun smirked while tempting.

“Would you like to challenge her to another dance off, Jisung?”

“F-fine! You better not pull some cheating moves again, asshole.” This confused Soeun.

“The hell are you babbling about, weirdo?" 

"No, no, no you're not gonna play dumb with me like that." 

"The next dancer to take on champion Park Jisung: Park Soeun!!"  Immediately after hearing her name, the girls quickly drew back the curtains in shock. All of them stood on stage to watch this go down.

She rolled her eyes at her cousin before joining the circle, now they were to decide who's going first. Soeun skipped the rock-paper-scissors match and just let Jisung have the first turn. He looked forward to humiliating her, so without wasting anymore time, he busted out all kinds of impressive techniques, gaining thunderous applause from the crowd. When finished, everyone waited for Soeun’s turn, but never did they expect her to match Jisung's skills so easily. After she was done, people realized the threat she posed for Jisung. Their feud continued on much longer than the last match because everyone was so enamored by the two, even the announcer forgot to start the freestyle part. No one knew who would win afterwards, so the decision had to be made at the end. That being said, things were getting quite tense as neither of them backed down, their unwillingness to stand down ever prominent. Soon enough, it’d been at least twenty minutes into this match with everyone still amazed. Eventually, the announcer came back to reality, starting the freestyle dancing. Jisung immediately performed rigorously, constantly popping and locking, as if he were a robot in disguise. He did all kinds of moves that almost outshined his opponent like before. However, Soeun still managed to snatch that spotlight. She flowed with the beat, pulling off acrobatic moves with ease, something Jisung forgot she could do. In other words, he was doomed and didn’t even realize it. Now that everyone’s attention was on Soeun, she continued applying her combination of dance moves and acrobatics that made the audience erupt in boisterous applause. She wasn’t just moving with the music, she  _ was _ the music. Jisung felt desperate to win and wanted to beat his rival, but then an abrupt slip up made him lose balance. A loud thud made Soeun stop dancing to look behind, thus halting the cheering as well. She immediately offered a hand to help Jisung up, but all he did was glare in response, slapping it away before speed walking right out of the rink. The announcer didn’t really say anything further and just shrugged.

“And the new champion is Park Soeun!!”

The kids immediately cheered on for her without a second thought as she still stood there shocked at what had just happened. Soeun knew her relationship with Jisung was terrible, but in all honesty, she had genuinely forgotten what had gone wrong in the past. Their parents constantly pitted them against each other, but it was always in good fun. Then, somewhere around high school, things got ugly. Soeun’s thoughts were interrupted by Soojin’s tight embrace, followed by the rest of the girls crowding around. She chuckled at how much they complimented her, blushing under the immense attention. No one else wanted to participate in the dance battle, thus the competition had to end there and led to more celebrations with a concert. Jihan and Jaehee joined the trio for their performance, singing on stage like the crackheads they were, just having fun. Pretty soon, Ruann, May and Lucy hopped on the platform with them. As the girls sang their hearts out, Soojin and Soeun were sitting and laughing in the distance. Who would’ve thought they would be such dorks on stage? When Monday’s effortless only served to have the audience go even crazier. Her chemistry with Jiyoon totally took the show as well since they harmonized like they’d performed together for years. Soojin rested her head on Soeun’s shoulder as the two leaned their backs on the wall. Despite the thunderous music, she somehow tuned that out and felt peaceful just being here with loved ones. After months of imprisonment, Soojin couldn’t ask for anything more than this. 

Meanwhile, outside of the roller skating rink, the temperature unexpectedly dipped. Jisung trekked towards the exit of the carnival as both hands were stuffed in his pants’ pockets. He’d been in a salty mood after losing to Soeun  _ again, _ which brought back the absolutely humiliating memories from last year. Everyone had laughed and pointed fingers at him, all for a single screw up. He was so angry, being unable to think properly so all of the blame was just placed on his cousin. Jisung was thoroughly sure that the whole incident happened because of her, no questions asked. But then he’d thought back to his conversation with Soojin last night while in the arcade. Either way, misunderstanding or not, Jisung just couldn’t let that go. Though…did he really ever let Soeun explain herself and overreacted? He instantly shook his head.

“No. She caused it, so it’s all her fault.” Maybe one day Jisung would know the truth, be it tomorrow or later. The boy had just reached the exit when a hand on his shoulder unexpectedly stopped him. 

“Hey, remember me?” 

“U-uh…you’re that Yedam guy, right?” Jisung raised an eyebrow, confused as to what he wanted with him. 

“That’s me. I see your rival is Park Soeun?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Well then it’s settled, Park Jisung, we have a common enemy that needs to be brought down a peg or ten.” 

“Wait, what do you have against her?” 

“She has something that I want. Or, someone.”

“…ok? What do you propose then?” 

“I want to challenge her to a dance battle, but maybe give her a little surprise?”

Jisung pondered on, before realizing what Yedam meant and smirked. “Ahh, I see. Sabotage, huh?” 

“You read my mind, Park Jisung. Let’s go plan some more.” He swung his arm around Jisung’s shoulders as they walked off into a secluded area.


	23. Family

**Five days later.**

With how great things were looking for everything, the town was busier than ever. It’d become normal to see many crowding the streets as many hung out with friends, while others continued doing their individual tasks. Crops were flourishing with lots of vegetables and fruits to use. Of course, most of them were transferred to the supermarket where lots would line up for some, but it seemed like corn and broccoli were the most popular. Additionally, the motor garage had great business as more modified vehicles were created. Can’t forget about the auto shop and police station either; the machine guns that were taken from the last mission were enhanced to a deadly degree. Aside from that, there was still training for Greens, Blues and Golds, which greatly helped everyone attain better mastery over their powers. The athletes exercised to no end, constantly jogging around town and lifting weight at the ‘public gym’, once being a playground to the elementary school. Moreover, artists and painters had gone around to paint even more murals on roads, buildings, anything they could get their hands on, except houses of course. The whole town was soon bathed in portraits displaying here and there, almost like a museum, but for teenagers and kids. And truth be told, they’d grown very creative these past few months. At home, Soeun was woken up by the sound of a sink turning on in the bathroom, immediately knowing it was Soojin, who’d woken up earlier. When the older girl walked out, she smiled seeing Soeun trying to fall asleep again.

“Wake up, grumpy~” Soojin teased while gently shaking her shoulder as she groaned. 

“I’m not grumpy, you dork.” 

“Wanna help me make some more omelettes for the girls then?” 

“Hm…ok, five more minutes?” 

“They might wake up earlier than that.” 

“Oh please, Monday and Jiyoon could sleep through an avalanche.” 

“But they can’t sleep through the scent of eggs and bacon frying on a pan. They’re quite the crackheads.” 

Soeun chuckled. “True. I’ll meet you downstairs, yeah?” 

“Don’t take too long, grumpy.” This made her jokingly roll her eyes. 

“Are you ever going to let me live it down?” 

“Nope!” Soojin called from outside the room while walking downstairs giggling.

Like promised, the younger girl arrives into the kitchen a few minutes later all freshened up and ready to make breakfast. As said earlier, Monday and Jiyoon were the first ones to get out of bed, eagerly waiting in the kitchen after helping set plates and silverware. Shortly after, the kids woke from their slumber, joining their friends at the dining table. When the omelettes finished cooking, the girls ate comfortably in silence, occasionally bringing up the news, though nothing else in the media seemed new. After finishing breakfast, they split up to do their individual activities once again. Monday, Jiyoon, Jihan and Jaehee all headed towards the motor garage to try out new motorcycles and hopefully not crash again. Zoa met up with May to hang out at the arcade, both agreeing to team up and beat some zombie games. Surprisingly, Lucy decided to visit their house so she could finally hang out with Soeun. Though she obviously couldn’t forget to bring her game console over. After inviting Soojin to play, the trio worked side by side during a difficult boss fight, which ended up taking hours to defeat. Soeun delivered the final blow, ultimately killing it and giving them their hard fought victory. Lucy huffed in relief, high fiving her after their victory.

“That was some nice strategy there. You should help me with some of the other games because those bosses are such pains in the ass to fight.” 

Soeun chuckled. “How about tomorrow?” 

“Sure! That sounds good.” 

“I’m gonna take a break in the garden and check on my roses. If you guys need anything, let me know!” Then with that, Soojin left through the back door, leaving just the two in the living room. 

“I see you being all heart eyes for her. And to make matters more obvious, you sacrificed yourself in the game to save her multiple times.” Lucy smirked as Soeun playfully punched her shoulder. 

“And what about it?” 

“Y’all dating or what?” 

“W-well—no. Not officially, at least.” 

“Really?? How long have you known each other?” 

“Several months.” 

“And you’re  _ still _ not officially girlfriends?” 

Soeun’s eyes grew slightly wide as she blushed hearing that word. “It’s complicated, ok?”

“You like her, don’t you?” 

“I—y-yes….”

“And what does she feel?” 

“Uh…I think she likes me, too? At least that’s what I’m getting.”

“Then what the heck are you two waiting for?” 

“I guess we’re both fine with taking it slow for now, until we’re ready.” 

“Well…alright then. Don’t wait too long, Soeun.”

They both played games for the whole afternoon, until Lucy had to leave for some business. Shortly after, all of the girls returned home, where they gathered in the living room for yet another movie marathon. During a certain part, however, a playful debate between them sparked after a protagonist had lost to some villain and Monday said it was rightfully deserved, though Jaehee begged to differ. The girls went back and forth, but this led to a pillow fight between them. At one point, Jihan had the soul smacked out of her, Jiyoon wrestled with Soeun as if they were professional wrestlers, and finally Soojin made Monday and Jaehee surrender with telekinesis. Soon enough, their little brawl was put to a stop when the speakers outside came to life, announcing another dance competition. Anyone was able to participate, so the girls were intrigued and wanted to participate. Just as last time, it was being held in the roller skating rink again, thus everyone went there to check things out. Ruann, May and Lucy signed up for fun _,_ _and_ to no one’s surprise, Yedam joined as well. The first few rounds were sort of nerve wracking, but that quickly changed after Jihan went up against Jaehee. Everyone gave an encore to motivate the two, which was why Jihan danced first. Afterwards, it practically became a ridiculous, but fun battle with Jaehee winning in the end. Then the second round was Monday versus Jiyoon, and boy was that the most chaotic battle anyone had ever seen. It really got everyone laughing, so neither of them minded. A while later into the competition, the last battle was between the lovebirds: Soojin and Soeun. 

Minutes in, they were just playfully competing while laughing along as the older girl was actually pretty skilled in dancing. But when freestyle started and salsa music was cued up, Soojin had no idea how to even begin. Thankfully, Soeun grabbed her hand and spun her around, quickly leading them both to dance together. With this catchy beat and combined with everyone’s awe, the two felt like they were on top of the world. It didn’t even feel like a competition anymore since both of them worked well together. Their friends constantly screamed and cheered for the two, absolutely amazed by their chemistry. For the finale, Soojin was lifted into the air by her hips, thanks to Soeun’s surprising strength, before being caught in both of her arms. Soojin wrapped hers around the younger girl’s shoulder and happily smiled after the dance, that being the most fun she’d had in a long time. They both then directed their attention at the girls, just as Jiyoon was getting ready to toss a rose. Soeun astonishingly caught it with her mouth, causing Soojin to crack up before taking the flower and waving it around, the audience cheering even louder than ever. Minutes later, after a difficult decision, the winner was eventually Soeun, which Soojin didn’t mind at all and was rather happy for her. She gently squeezed Soeun’s hand, silently wishing good luck before rejoining the rest of their friends. After brief introductions, the announcer finally named her opponent, and boy was she going to have fun with this. Yedam smirked evilly while walking onto the platform, ready to ruin her spotlight, vice versa.

“Will Bang Yedam defeat Soeun or will she continue to keep the champion title? Let the match begin!!” 

Without having to decide, he busted out the first move with popping and locking, executing it well enough to gain people’s attention. Even then, Soeun still managed to do much better without exerting as much energy as Yedam had to. She was well known for doing acrobatics, so she did it once again, earning lots of cheering. The girls were especially the loudest while holding up a large banner with her name plastered on it, thanks to Jiyoon’s idea. Monday and Zoa carried it as the others waved glowsticks in support. This encouraged Soeun more while dancing to along with the music. She and Yedam continued trading impressive moves to lure the crowd that gradually grew louder. Eventually, it started becoming clear who was going to win this match. Yedam began to grow fatigued while dancing, but Soeun didn’t falter even one bit and was able to continue further. Meanwhile, Jisung stood in the audience to watch, though just close enough for only Yedam to see him. The younger boy smirked after spotting him, knowing that Jisung was waiting for the cue. They worked all night to get the supplies and plan for this sabotage. It’d been almost half an hour into the competition and Yedam was getting a little too tired to continue. When he finished, it was now Soeun’s turn to perform next, but this was the cue. Jisung clicked a button on the remote and looked above, where an enormous bucket of what was believed to be paint tipped over. Its sound was heard by Soeun as she peered up to see, only to be shocked herself. Unfortunately, she couldn’t dodge in time, thus stood there with arms covering her face. The audience collectively gasped in shock while the girls stood there utterly horrified. And no, this was not paint at all, it was hair dye. The strong scent made everyone back away, but Soeun’s friends quickly helped her out of the mess while covering their noses. By then, everyone’s eyes were on Yedam, who stood there not even hiding his amusement. 

“You have anything to say for yourself?” Ruann demanded for an answer while glaring. 

“What are you talking about??” He played dumb. “I didn’t do anything.” 

“Oh yeah? Then why was there a bucket hanging up there?” Zoa interrogated.

“How would I know? I didn’t put it there.”

“You may be one of us, but you’re not just going to cause trouble around here and easily get away with it.” Ruann reasoned, which made him cower instantly. 

“Yeah, don’t try to save yourself, we know you did it. You wouldn’t be laughing right now either.” 

“I-I…ok, so what if I did?? She deserves it for embarrassing my friend.” Yedam thought that would lead everyone’s attention off of him, which made Jisung freeze in his spot with eyes growing wide in fear. Thankfully, Soeun quickly refuted Yedam's argument.

“What? You’re just gonna throw your ‘friend’ under the bus like that?” 

“Wh—n-no, that’s not what I—”

“Save it, asshole. Unless you want to be the first example and end up in the cell, you better think about what you did tonight. This is your last chance.”

Ruann threatened him before turning around to help Soeun walk back to the girls’ house. It wasn’t that far of a walk but the hair dye started burning so they ran home instead. Once arriving at the bathtub, Zoa realized the chemical had already changed Soeun’s hair orange, therefore, to make things slightly better, they had to apply extra dye to the rest of her scalp before washing it off. Soojin and Monday took the liberty to help wash it off with shampoo, making Soeun groan at the stinging pain. The girls spent a full hour helping her clean up, before showing the final result. She was insecure about the new color, but when Soojin was enamored by the change, it didn’t seem so bad afterwards. Additionally, the other girls loved it as well, all of them taking group selfies to make light of the situation. Soeun had almost forgotten this was meant as a sabotage, until there was knocking on their door. Zoa opened it, only to be surprised to see Jisung standing there, looking rather…guilty. She welcomed him inside, but he quickly stopped her and requested something else. 

“S-sorry to come here without notice, but um…can you tell Soeun to meet me at the beach? I’d to—talk to her, i-if she doesn’t mind.” 

“Oh, sure. I’ll tell her right now.”

“Thank you.” He then hastily hopped onto his skateboard and rode away into the distance.

Zoa raised an eyebrow, before turning around to inform her. Soeun frowned at the sudden request, simply shrugging and promised the girls she’d be back soon. Shortly afterwards, Soeun walked down the steps onto the sand as Jisung’s back faced her in the distance. He sat on a long bench, simply staring out into the distance as wind softly swayed his hair to the side. Soeun cleared her throat, which made him turn around and stand up. “Um…hey.” He felt even guiltier seeing the new hair color, much similar to his. 

“Hi? What do you want?” 

“Uh—I, uh…just need to tell y-you something.” 

“Like what?” 

“Come sit down.” Jisung kindly offered, confusing her even more, but she did as told, taking a seat furthest away from him. “Orange looks…good on you.” He cringed at himself. 

“Why the hell are you being nice to me all of the sudden?” Soeun decided to get straight to the point. 

“L-look, I—I just…i-it was also my idea….” 

“…what?” She frowned, her anger slowly boiling up. 

“But I-I didn’t know he would switch up to hair dye, I swear!” 

“You still conspired a scheme with him, of all people, to ruin my rep?! What the hell have I ever done to you?!!” The girl seethed in rage while shouting. 

“You made me trip last year during the international dance competition!”

“You never let me explain my side of the story!”

“Did you or did you not tell me, right before my performance, that you hoped I failed? What was I supposed to think??”

_ “Cut the crap, Jisung!” _ He immediately froze. “I told you that was a fucking accident and I never did it on purpose. You just let your own selfish insecurities get to you! Even then, this is  _ nothing _ compared to what happened to you. You’re just a petty bitch like that Yedam guy.” Jisung didn’t even know how to respond, still feeling shocked. All it took was for a few simple sentences to clear up the misunderstandings and he never felt so stupid for not realizing them. Soeun noticed his silence, slumping while shaking her head. “If you have nothing else to say…then I’m leaving.” 

Jisung took a few seconds to snap out of it. “W-wait!” Soeun stopped to turn around, still glaring. “I’m sorry…I really am.” Her eyes slowly softened as she sighed before sitting back down. “I screwed up bad. I just always thought that it was your fault I slipped. But you’re right, I totally let it go over my head….” 

Jisung looked down at his hands while saying it, too nervous to raise his head. Soeun briefly stared at her cousin, then gazed at the ocean. “What…so you just met up with him and planned revenge?” 

“Y-yeah, well—he was the one who approached me first.”

“What did he say?” 

“Uh….” Jisung frowned, trying to remember. “Something along the lines that you had someone he wanted?” 

“Ugh, that piece of shit.” Soeun immediately knew who he talked about. 

“Who is it?” 

“My friend, Soojin.” 

“Oh, I see…he was a weird guy, obsessed about accomplishing that goal. I swear I wanted to back down at first, but he convinced me.” 

“Not so much of a Green, are you?” 

Jisung lightly chuckled. “Yeah, I guess not.” The two cousins merely sat there, the silence feeling peaceful after a while. “Listen, um…” Soeun turned to face him, “…you’re the only family I have left.” He said with full honesty. “I don’t know where my parents are, I barely know any other relatives. But, even though we may be rivals, I’m glad I met you again.” 

She sighed, finding herself agreeing. “Me, too. I’m not sure if anyone else is alive either. I was actually quite relieved seeing you when I saw you at that camp. When we argued, it felt like…I don’t know, I was living a normal life again, that none of this was real. I-it’s great, but…in times like this, family is what I needed.” 

“Yeah.” Jisung nodded once more. “And if there’s any way I can make it up to you after this mess, I’ll do anything.” 

“Well, it’s just an unplanned hair dye, but if you insist, I need a way to let that Yedam guy know that Soojin wouldn’t like to be with him.”

“Uuuh, like—to prove something?”

“Mhm.”

Jisung smiled, already having a plan. “I got an idea.”


	24. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note: near the end, it will get extremely cringy but it's just for the sake of the story lmaoo and dw too much about, it'll get better right after the cringy part. Also for reference, go listen to Baek Yerin's cover of la la la love song, it's really good!

Another day, another week. It’d been a while since the shitshow from the last dance competition. Everyone was thoroughly unamused with what happened, but can’t say they didn’t like the result since many started dyeing their hair as well. Pretty soon, it began looking like something out of a Trolls movie. Not that it was a bad thing, rather it made the town even more vibrant than ever. It was a place where they could just be themselves, even better since no one was there to pass judgement, thus creating the perfect community to be a part of. After that night, everyone grew closer as an overall unit, preferring to lean to the more optimistic side of things. From that night on though nuisances would result in consequences, leading to the establishment of cells. That was the warning, but if they were lucky enough, there would be a second chance. Besides that inconvenience though, the tide of peace hadn’t yet shifted. And speaking of which, twenty new people arrived in town, once again, getting the girls’ message. Like always, it called for a celebration as the population now reached 197. This was a huge accomplishment for them since they brought so many despondent kids together, hoping maybe one day they’ll take back the world that’d exiled them. Meanwhile, in happier news, Soeun and Jisung were now on good terms, occasionally hanging out together after she introduced him to the girls. Their friend group had since grown in size, constantly playing games at the arcade, taking group photos in the carnival, working together either in the motor, garage or auto shop, as well as keeping things in check. 

However, today had a special air about it. Ruann announced that there would be a talent show tomorrow night, which intrigued many to participate in the performances or just join as spectators. To her surprise though, the sign up list was filled to the brim with names. This might've even turned chaotic, but a dash of that was to be expected. Jisung helped the Weeekly band prepare their showcase, giving suggestions for lyrics, even playing some melodies to test things out. After a few hours, they created a somewhat short song that was surely going to gain lots of support. Though in the meantime, the group planned for something else that would be a great surprise later on. For now they sang back and forth, going crazy when a heavy metal song came up in Monday’s playlist. Only god knew why she downloaded a three minute MP3 file of mere screaming. Next thing they knew it was the afternoon, but since there was another pinball event at the carnival again, they knew it was going to be crowded. The girls decided to join as well, but Soeun and Soojin decided to stay home for the day, having had enough fun earlier. They were both staying in their room, the younger girl scrolling through social media on her phone while the other mindlessly watched some television.

“How’s the old TV show working for you?” Soojin jokingly rolled her eyes at the tease.

“Probably better than social media.” 

Soeun gasped dramatically, placing a hand on her chest. “I’m offended.” 

She laughed. “This show is actually interesting, despite being from," Soojin looked closer, "1994.”

“What’s it about?” 

“About teen drama, ‘the turmoils of growing up and maturing.’ It also includes cheesy romance in there.” 

“Hm, must be nice.” 

Soojin sighed and laid down next to Soeun. “Sure, if an angsty breakup is considered that.” This was when she looked at the screen, slightly wincing when some guy dumped the main character and made her ugly cry in the bathroom.

“Yikes. The acting is really on par though.” 

“True. I just hope the situation doesn’t get any worse than it already is.” Then, the next episode cued up and the protagonist found herself a new partner for some homecoming party, both of them dancing slowly to a soft, jazz piece that set the serene feeling. Soojin gazed at the two getting lost in each other’s eyes, something she always felt staring at Soeun. And despite the girls teasing, the moment was still enjoyable. 

Soeun, on the other hand, froze while watching the television as her blushing grew brighter and brighter. She cleared her throat, subtly facing away from Soojin because one look at her might make her ascend to heaven. “So, um…the music is nice.” 

“Y-yeah, really nice.” They both briefly remained silent shortly after, unsure of what else to say. But even the thought about having a small moment to themselves like the one in the show, that alone encouraged the two just a little more. 

“Wanna dance with me?” Soojin and Soeun asked each other simultaneously. Upon realizing what just happened, they immediately burst into laughter while getting off the bed. 

“Great minds think alike, it seems.” 

“Indeed they do.”

Soojin muttered before wrapping her arms around Soeun’s shoulders, while the other hesitantly held her by the hips, telepathically asking if this felt comfortable. She smiled and nodded before closing her eyes as Soeun did the same shortly after. They both leaned their foreheads against each other, then gently swayed left and right to the music, enjoying their little, intimate moment. It felt like a dream come true almost; Soojin always wondered what this would feel like after having watched romance shows often with family. Hearing about how her parents met for the first time and what their date was like had her mind racing every time. That, followed with the crush towards the younger girl never failed to make her heart rate drastically increase. Soeun was never particularly interested in dating nor any cheesy lovey dovey stuff like this, but meeting Soojin those months ago while back in the camp changed everything. And wow, was she missing out on a lot. No wonder Lucy and the others always talked about it. Of course, Soeun took a while to get in terms with her feelings, but talking with the girls really helped. They may be relentless in teasing, but not a single one of them hesitated to give advice. She found herself relating to Monday’s struggle with her own crush on Jiyoon. Though shocking enough, both of them had actually discussed it and were now taking things slowly. So, despite how much she liked Soojin, it’d be best if they did the same thing as well: starting with baby steps, then see how things would go from there. About a minute later, Soeun gazed at Soojin lovingly as they both got lost in each other’s eyes.

* * *

**One day later.**

It was finally time for the big talent show, many either lined up backstage for the first half of the act while others tried finding seats somewhere behind the roller skating area. As the stage was getting ready, Jaehee, Jihan, May and Lucy were waiting behind curtains, warming up their vocals and going over some dance moves. The two best friends were going to be the opening performance, their friends greatly anticipating it. Though before the talent show really began, everyone was still going around getting some food and drinks, kids still setting things up (let’s all pretend some girl did not just accidentally knock one of her friends out cold while juggling) etc. Jisung was also in the back to help monitor performers while wishing them all good luck. Things took about ten minutes before beginning as lights dimmed, then turning off completely. The spotlight immediately shined on the announcer from the dance competitions, first fixing his tie before speaking.

“Good evening, all! My name is Samuel Kim and I’m hoping everyone is doing well so far?” He held out his mic to the audience and they all immediately shouted yes. “Awesome, awesome! Tonight is going to blow our minds because everyone behind these curtains are _the best_ performers I’ve personally ever seen. So sit back and relax, and let the show begin!” 

With another round of applause, they immediately opened up the stage, with Jihan and Jaehee standing ten feet from each other, patiently waiting for the song. When it finally began, they immediately began tap dancing while staying in sync to match with the enthusiastic jazzy beats. Jihan sang the first verse before it went back and forth between them, their joyful performance drastically lightening up everyone’s mood, hence why they were perfect for the opening act. Minutes later, the two finished with a finale, raising hands into the air while singing the last long, high note for a grand ending. After more loud cheering and applause, Jihan and Jaehee both got down from the stage, going behind the curtains. Samuel came back out to compliment their performance, earning eager agreements from the audience. Soon enough, the rest of the show continued along and truth be told, everyone was blown away from the sheer talent of the participants. One had speedily painted a large portrait of the forest within minutes, several doing taekwondo moves, others performed a short comedic gag that had the audience laughing in tears, and so on. The night was pretty fun to say the least as everyone was enjoying themselves. Before they knew it, the first half of the talent show finished, so now there was a ten minute break. This allowed the girls to regroup with other friends.

“You guys were fantastic up there!” Zoa exclaimed to the two kids.

“T-thanks, it was Jaehee’s idea actually.” She playfully rolled her eyes at the shyness, but continued being humble. 

_“Our_ idea. And we’re glad you guys liked it!”

“You did really great! They were smart to make you guys perform first.”

“Well, that and because I was nervous, so I wanted to get it over with.” Jihan timidly rubbed her neck. 

“No worries, you were brave up there.” Soojin reassured her. While they continued conversing, Soeun telepathically reminded everyone, except a certain someone, about the plan, before Monday spoke up.

“Hey, why don’t we all hang out in the skating rink for a bit? To kill time.” 

“Sure! Let’s go.” Ruann nodded before putting on her roller skates, then followed May and Lucy with everyone else close behind. 

“I’ll catch up with you and the others in a bit.” Soeun informed Soojin, who nodded. She then turned to Jisung. “You got everything ready?” 

“Yeah. I told Yedam that Soojin noona was here so he could confess to her.”

She burst out into laughter. “Please tell me you ‘helped’ him with the lyrics.” 

_“Oh, yeah._ That is definitely taken care of.”

For the second act, it was just as amazing as the previous one, all of them putting out performances that were beyond incredible. No one would’ve expected their community to be so talented, the next performance being more awe inspiring than the last. The audience remained invested, willing to cheer on for anyone displaying their artistry. While the gigs continued, Monday, Jiyoon, and Zoa had to go backstage and get ready, with Soeun subtly following them while making an excuse to Soojin that she was going to the bathroom. As more spectacular performances carried on, all of them stood out in their own spotlight: a whole orchestra playing the Darthvader theme song, a bunch of Greens crafting a ten feet tall Gundam figurine in minutes, bakers doing a fun cooking competition, even giving macaron samples to some lucky audiences, and the list just goes on and on. After all of this, one particular performer eagerly hopped on stage for his show, smiling brightly. Needless to say…Soojin was utterly shocked, even the others despite them secretly being in the plan as well.

“Wassup, ladies and gents? It’s your boy, Bang Yedam and tonight, I’m gonna dedicate this rap song to a very special little lady.” And to her horror, he pointed right at her, making everyone look towards the direction before they all ooed and did flirty whistles. This couldn’t get any worse, right? It did. So much worse. The moment Yedam turned on his large portable radio, which cued up a hip hop piece that sounded like it came from the late 80s…he started rapping about her.

_“Uh, aye, what’s up? My heart is poundin’, the beats be soundin’, add a bit o’ numbers, I can start roundin’. Once upon a time when I saw this princess, I look at her and went like wow she real pretty. So what I gotta do to get her attention? I’m the sickest badass but yet she don’t see me. Let’s hit up that beat, cuz now I will say: you my queen, I’m ya king, let’s rule this world. Together you and me, we’re perfect for each other. No one can step between us, the peeps know that. Go out with me and I’ll give you what you want. So don't’ hesitate, cuz you da one for me.”_

Immediately after finishing, Yedam dropped his mic on stage. This left everyone silent for a brief moment before laughing at him while cheering at the same time, while Soojin remained thoroughly unamused. He thought this was a good thing before walking off stage and behind the curtains, where he saw Soeun and her friends still looking astonished. Yedam then had the nerve to walk up to her. “I totally captured Soojin’s heart out there, so whatever crap show you got now will be worthless.” 

“You’re very confident, aren’t you? Let’s see if you’re still the ‘sickest badass’ after this, Bang Yedam.” Soeun smirked before walking out onto stage with the band. Since the lights were still turned off, Soojin couldn’t see that she was there.

Samuel appeared in the spotlight once more, clearing his throat after laughing so much. “Well, that sure was some performance, huh?” The audience chuckled. “The time has finally come, my friends: the last show for this amazing event. I’m sure you may feel down, hoping for more, but this will not disappoint you. Last but not least, we have our favorite rock band, Weeekly, specially featuring main singer, Park Soeun!!” Everyone immediately erupted into loud cheering, while Soojin stood there completely speechless upon hearing the younger girl’s name, not even realizing the curtains had been drawn back. And there she was, looking back at her with dreamy eyes. 

“This song is a personal favorite between me and my friends. We share with you all as I’m going to show you how much of an honor it is for me to sing this for someone I hold dearly in my heart.” Soeun smiled at Soojin, who was already close to tearing up. Getting ready to use the DJ booth, Zoa gave her the cue to start singing.

_まわれ まわれ メリーゴーラウンド_

_もうけして止まらないように,_

_動き出したメロディー._

_LA LA LA LA~ LA LA~ LOVE SONG~_

The start immediately made Soojin's heart rate drastically increase. Monday and Jiyoon smiled at her reaction, continuing to play their bass and keyboard. Soeun’s voice was absolutely made for this song.

_ドシャ降りの午後を待って 街に飛び出そう_

_心に降る雨に 傘をくれた君と._

_「まっぴら！」と横向いて 本音はウラハラ_

_でも そのままでいい お互いさまだから._

Monday and Jiyoon harmonized with her. 

_めぐり会えた奇跡が,_

_涙の色を変えた._

_息がとまるくらいの, 甘いくちづけをしようよ_

_ひと言もいらないさ, とびきりの今を._

_勇気をくれた君に, 照れてる場合じゃないから_

_言葉よりも本気な._

_LA LA LA LA~ LA LA~ LOVE SONG~_

After the first verse, Zoa stayed to operate the booth, while Soeun, Monday and Jiyoon carefully got down from the stage, their roller skates still on before they rode around the rink, playing their instruments as she continued singing her heart out.

_知らぬ間に落としてた 小さなかけらを_

_隙間なく抱きよせ 肌でたしかめあう._

_宇宙の見えない夜,_

_かまわない 君が見える._

_まわれ まわれ メリーゴーラウンド_

_もうけして止まらないように_

_動き出したメロディー._

_LA LA LA LA~ LA LA~ LOVE SONG~_

_とめどなく楽しくて やるせないほど切なくて_

_そんな朝に生まれる 僕なりの LOVE SONG._

**_ためいきの前に ここにおいでよ._ **

**_(Before you heave a sigh, come over here.)_ **

  
  
As Soeun was singing this last part of the verse, her eyes locked onto Soojin, smiling as she slowly skated closer towards her. This was Jihan and Jaehee’s cue to push the older girl into the rink, easily doing so since she still had her roller skates on. Afterwards, the two, including Ruann, May, Lucy and Jisung, joined everyone else. Thankfully, there was no more need to sing as Soojin immediately accepted Soeun’s hand, leading her inside so they both could dance together for the rest of the song. While having a sweet moment to themselves, their friends were having fun around them, also doing their own thing. Nearing closer to the end, Soeun gazed into her eyes again, just like last night, except she was silently asking for permission, though without having to use telekinesis. It was something that would ultimately seal their relationship…and how could Soojin say no to that? This was what she dreamed of for so long. Then, right as the song ended, Soeun leaned in right after Soojin softly nodded, and they both finally kissed as nothing interrupted them this time. Everyone instantly roared in cheers, extremely happy for the two. Their friends were definitely the loudest of the bunch, hopping around in the roller skates like dorks. Jisung subtly glanced over at Yedam and _wished_ he'd brought his phone to capture the boy's appalled expression. Everything about it was so priceless, then it quickly morphed into anger as he stormed out of the building, no one noticing it but Jisung. It was rightfully deserved after all. Soeun and Soojin finally separated from their kiss, both smiling widely with a mix of shyness and happiness, embracing each other shortly after. They were finally official.


	25. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a while to update! I've been busy with life in general but I'm still working on future updates, thanks for waiting ❤

**A month later.**

Change was inevitable as time passed, waiting for no one. The “leaders” in town were looking forward to somehow expanding their home, perhaps further down the road or on the beach. There hadn’t been another mission since the last prison infiltration, all of them wanting to stay low for the time being until heat died down and the government wasn’t witch hunting. But still, they wanted to continue saving those still trapped. At this point, no one was sure whether or not the world would recover from this madness. It’s been almost a year since everything started, even though it felt like only days had passed. Just the realization of this was surreal enough in itself. Who would’ve thought that, in a modern world, this kind of madness would be unfolding. New Years was right around the corner, but constant cloudiness only served to dampen the mood. To lighten that, Ruann decided to host some evening fireworks displays, hoping the temperature would allow for it. After checking the weather, Zoa suggested they light up some bonfires to help with out-door heating. At the moment, Jihan and Jaehee were hanging out with Ruann and some friends at the elementary school, chilling with some board games. Meanwhile, Zoa was working alongside May and Jisung to find some sort of signal, hoping to come in contact with kids like them. With the military still dealing with their internal problems, things should be easier at least for a little while. On the other hand, Monday and Jiyoon were fixing up another car at the garage. It’d been not as hectic the last few days, so now everyone could do whatever they wanted at the moment. Even better, this also marked a month since the two had been dating and taking things slow.

“Do you think pudding would mix well with Lays?” Jiyoon randomly questioned right after replacing a tire, making Monday chuckle. Because these types of moments occurred so often, she couldn’t help but take a liking towards it. 

“And you’re asking me this because?” 

“It’s an important question. The puddings that Jihan had brought along during the RV trip were really good, so I’m thinking, since sweet and salty stuff are the best combination ever, Lays and pudding would be immaculate.”

“Well, we’ll see about that when we get home.”

“You wanna try it with me?” Jiyoon asked, full of hope as her puppy eyes practically sparkled. 

“Sure, maybe just a tiny bit.” 

She practically squealed before wrapping her arms around Monday’s neck, tightly embracing her. “Yaaay! No one’s ever wanted to try stuff with me until now, so thank you.” Her voice muffled in her shoulder.

Jiyoon seemed very happy about it, which made Monday feel content as well while rubbing the girl’s back. “Of course. No problem at all.” They stayed like that for several seconds, just enjoying the moment before separating, then gazed at each other.  _ How cute. _ Monday thought to herself while getting lost in Jiyoon’s eyes. 

She smiled, reaching up to gently wipe a smudge of dirt from the younger’s cheek. “So um, the car’s just about done now. We can test it tomorrow, if you want.” 

“Yep, that’s the plan.” 

“Oh hey, wanna head to the roller skating rink? I just want to go backstage and play some songs, but you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” 

“It’s alright, I’ll come along.”  _ Because you’re adorable. _

“Let’s go!” Jiyoon smiled even wider then held her hand, wasting no time to head there. But while on the way, Monday began shivering from the freezing air, which didn't go unnoticed by Jiyoon. She immediately wrapped her arms around the taller girl, instantly warming her up.

Monday chuckled. "Thanks! I really needed that." Jiyoon smiled and blushed. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to finally arrive inside, the heaters turned on as numerous kids were hanging out inside. Several of them noticed the two, not hesitating to greet them as they both head backstage, their instruments safely kept in lockers. After unzipping the cases, Monday tuned her guitar first before strumming it, mindlessly playing something catchy as Jiyoon joined in. 

“Huh, even a little over twenty years later, this thing is still well kept and intact.” 

“Yeah, they truly last forever if taken care of.” She smiled while agreeing. “I’m thinking of a slow, calming song about love. You know, those kinds of cheesy, romantic ones.” 

Monday laughed. “Sure, we can go with that.” They then spend the next hour or so coming up with lyrics on their phones, jotting down music notes, and so on. It was thoroughly more enjoyable when they started to get somewhere, feeling like this could definitely be a hit. The two harmonized numerous times, testing how it would play out with just the right pitches and slowly, everything came together in the end. After recording with their phones, Jiyoon was overjoyed by how enchanting the song sounded. The girls were going to freak when they heard this. Monday took the liberty to try and sing it fully live while strumming her guitar. Taking some gentle coughs and a deep breath, she began.

_ Oh~  _

_ You don’t know, baby, when you hold me and kiss me slowly, it’s the sweetest thing~ _

_ And it don’t change, if I had it my way. You would know that you are~ _

_ You’re the coffee that I need in the morning, you’re my sunshine in the rain when it’s pouring. _

_ Would you give yourself to me? Give it all~ _

_ I just wanna see, I just wanna see how beautiful you are. You know that I see it, I know you’re a star. Where you go, I follow, no matter how far. If life is a movie, oh you’re the best part~ _

_ Hmm, you’re the best part. _

_ Hmm…best part~ _

Monday sang the last line while gazing at Jiyoon, who almost teared up because of how beautiful she looked. “That was really beautiful….” The older girl muttered softly, having no other ways to describe it. 

“Thanks. i-it was…for you.” Monday nervously responded, instantly feeling too shy to gaze back at Jiyoon. She was definitely going to cherish this forever.

“I love it very much, thank you.” The two stayed there until the firework show started, just singing together and alternating to different covers for fun. It almost felt like destiny since they both had a lot of things in common: loved music, were equally chaotic crackheads, had the best sense of humor, always said the weirdest things at the most random times, could draw better than professional artists, and many many more. They were just perfect for each other overall, no one could argue otherwise. So tonight, Monday planned to show that it was all worthwhile.

* * *

Through the speakers, the firework show was finally beginning at last, with everyone gathering at the beach as some were still setting up. Lucy and Jisung directed all of them carefully and helped prepare so then a freak accident wouldn’t happen. While kids waited patiently by chatting all around, the girls finally arrived, except for Monday and Jiyoon, who opted to stay at a safe distance and sat on the hood of a car. Soeun and Soojin were holding hands while Jihan and Jaehee linked arms, anticipating. Zoa stood on the side with May, both huddled together near a bonfire to fight off the bitter cold. Ten minutes later, Ruann appeared before the audience on a tall platform, announcing that the first rounds were ready for launch. Everyone cheered on before taking out their phones to record this epic moment. Then, with a suspenseful countdown, fireworks shot into the sky and exploded with beautiful colors. This was certainly one of the best ways to celebrate the New Years. Pretty soon, more fireworks erupted, but there were many that varied in different, unique shapes to form iconic characters from movies, games, TV shows, etc. The audience considered themselves lucky for being able to have this moment and still have fun despite their world falling apart. It gave a sense of hope that maybe things will change for the best in the future. For months, stress and terror rained down on them, but tonight dragged them away from that. They couldn’t be happier to be here.

In the distance, Jiyoon admired the fireworks, being absolutely speechless. “This is so cool…I never thought I’d be able to see this again.” 

“Me, too. The usual New Years would’ve definitely been crazier than this.” 

“Oh absolutely.” She laughed along while agreeing. “I could imagine myself and my school friends building snowmen, then using the heads for snow ball fighting.” 

“That would’ve been really fun.”

“Mhm! By the way, do you think we would’ve met? If…all of this didn’t happen?” 

“Hm…I’m not sure.” Monday couldn't imagine it at all, but it was unfortunately true: the chances of her meeting Jiyoon before this were unlikely.

“I always wished that everything didn’t escalate out of hand, but then it’d be horrible to not know you and the girls. Had it not been for the world collapsing, I wouldn’t have met any of you.”

“Yeah, I get that. And it’s ok to be afraid, like sometimes, I wished to go back in time and you know, start all over.” 

“It really sucks we have to even say that….”

Monday stayed silent, before speaking. “Life is just built that way, unfortunately. But that’s how we learn to grow stronger. We experience good and bad stuff, then learn from it.”

Jiyoon pondered on, before agreeing. “That’s true. It really determines who you are as a human being.”

“Exactly. We may be living in this shit hole world right now, but it’s always possible for us to change it, which is what I’m looking forward to.” 

“You’re right!” She smiled. “We’ll change it together.”

After the rant, they both continued watching further in silence for a few seconds, until Monday spoke up once more. “You know, um…we’ve been sort of dating since last month, so I was thinking…I’m ready to be official.” Jiyoon’s heart rate drastically increased as she slowly smiled.

“I was actually thinking the same, I just didn’t know when to bring it up.” 

“Oh, well that’s great! I’m really glad I’m not the only one.” 

The two broke into laughter before intertwining their hands. “To us.” The older girl slowly leaned in with Monday quickly following.

“To us.” Then they kissed right as more fireworks exploded in bright rainbow colors. Things felt like it was getting much better for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading this chapter. 
> 
> If you want, you can follow me on Twitter @kumahye! And please do leave some comments, your kind words are appreciated 🥺❤


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